G'morning, falcon fans out there.

The downtown Tacoma tiercel may have found the committed
mate he's been looking for the past three seasons. And
it's possible that the new couple is expecting.

The new female, an unbanded and very heavily streaked
youngster, showed up about April 18, a month and a half
after the wintering female disappeared.

On April 27, the couple mated enthusiastically--the first
time in three seasons I've seen the downtown male successful
mate. They've mated often since then, yesterday morning
being the last occasion that I know about.

Moreover, when Bud Anderson and seven members of his raptor
class came down from the north last Saturday (5/9) and watched
the two birds, the couple put on a great show of being a
mated pair, including driving off an intruding immature
Bald Eagle together.

It's true that she is young and that the breeding season may
be creeping by down here. But there's some chance that the
couple may lay eggs.

But where might they lay the eggs? There is a nest box on a
ledge (about 16 floors up) of the Key Bank Building, and I
have seen the female on it once. But she also seems attracted
to the top of a concrete counterweight on the 11th Street Bridge,
where there is a broad depression with some vegetation in it.

So I'm keeping an eye on her and him--looking for them at
every work break I get.

For anyone who'd like to keep up to date on what the Tacoma
downtown peregrines are up to, I've just put up a simple
web page at
<http://www.nwrain.com/~jrlyles/Tacoma_Peregrines.html>.

Also Sandi Doughton, environmental reporter for _The News
Tribune_, has written two news stories recently on the falcons.
(The news stories appeared in the B section on 4/30 and 5/7).

--cheers, Jim Lyles, Tacoma