The young birds begin to fly 35-45 days later. Due to their inexperience flying and hunting, over 60 per cent will die before the next spring. A falcon named Arrow nested and bred in Edmonton's AGT Tower for 11 years. Agricultural and industrial use of pesticides has caused a worldwide decline of peregrine falcons. Pesticide use is closely regulated in Canada and the U.S. but not in Latin America where peregrines winter.
Pesticide residues remain in the environment for many years.
They're picked up by a variety of animals, then passed on up the food chain to birds of prey. The residues collect in the birds' fat and eventually interfere with reproduction, causing thin eggshells and dead embryos. Each year since 1992, wildlife agencies in Alberta have released 45 captive-bred falcons. The box protects the young birds from the weather and predators. An attendant provides food through a tube until the birds instinctively master flying and hunting several weeks later.