As visionary as the idea turned out to be, he had a tough time selling it to both the scientific community and the public. But the tide turned when Fyfe met with delegates attending a federal provincial wildlife conference in Yellowknife in 1970. The following year, Fyfe and Harry Armbruster scoured Northern Alberta and the Mackenzie Valley for birds. Fyfe ended up housing some 40 peregrine, gyr and prairie falcons at his acreage until the breeding facility could be built at CFB Wainwright in 1973. The first fertile eggs were produced the following year, but not all went smoothly.
Peregrines are individuals with different personalities.
Some peregrines wouldn't have anything to do with the bird we tried to match it with. Others fought with each other, which is a serious thing considering how much bigger a female is than a male. It was hard to make a good match because these birds act quite differently when there are people around watching. Fyfe credits summer student Tom Donald for solving the matchmaking problem. He suggested that we put closed circuit televisions in with the peregrines so we could monitor for compatibility and behaviour problems without interfering.