The Virginia DWR Falcon Cam is offline for the season. We appreciate your interest and hope you visit this site in March 2025! Be sure sign up below for the latest updates. In the meantime, please enjoy this video of the banding of the 2021 Richmond peregrine falcon chicks.
What’s Happening at the Nest?
One of the falcon fledglings perches atop the Wells Fargo sign downtown.
Following the completion of FledgeWatch we’ve been periodically scanning the surrounding building signs and rooftops. In that time, we’ve seen the adults and the fledglings on numerous occasions. As the fledglings age, they will begin makin larger movements and spend less time in the general vicinity of the nest box. With that in mind, we will be shutting off the camera stream on Friday, 6/21.
We want to extend a very sincere thanks to all of our viewers and we look forward to bringing you the stream again early next spring!
We are grateful to the property managers who graciously granted us access to their buildings, which gave us a much-needed bird’s-eye view of the downtown Richmond landscape. We would also thank our partners at Comcast for their sponsorship and all of our viewers for diligently tuning in throughout the season!
And, if you still haven’t had your fill of the falcons, fear not…you can always make a trip downtown in the coming weeks to see if you can spot the birds yourself!
Update 1:
As of approximately 11:30 am we have been able to positively identify all three fledglings (Red, Yellow, and Blue) in various locations within proximity to Riverfront.
At the time of this writing (12:00 pm) both Red and Blue are currently perched on the Towne Bank building. Yellow was the first bird detected this morning on the First National Bank Building. From there it flew towards the Bank of America building where it perched for about an hour prior to taking flight once more to a location out of staff view.
We’ve detected prey deliveries to all three juveniles thus far and will continue to provide updates as we have them.
Update 2:
We are happy to report that Day 2 of FledgeWatch proved to be incredibly successful. Red spent a good portion of the early afternoon on the Towne Bank sign with his brother, Blue, perched just above him on the roof of the same building. Red eventually took flight and after a few circles around the plaza, was detected atop the HCA building just across the street from Riverfront Plaza.
At around 1:00 pm Yellow was observed flying towards the Towne Bank building, where she ultimately landed. She stayed in place here for a few minutes before taking flight again moving between the First National Bank building and the Virginia Lottery building before ultimately landing on one of the Truist signs where her mother delivered a meal to her. Each fledgling demonstrated successful flight and landing capabilities at various points during our monitoring today and as such, we are feeling optimistic that their skills on the wing will only continue to improve. Following these detections, we wrapped up our observation session by 2:30 pm.
With all three juveniles accounted for, this year’s FledgeWatch has officially concluded! We are incredibly grateful to the staff at Parmenter, the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, Davenport & Co, and the Federal Reserve who graciously granted us assistance or access to their buildings these past two days. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to acquire a much-needed bird’s-eye view of the downtown Richmond landscape that proved critical to the success of our monitoring efforts!
After experiencing some technical difficulties with the door opening device this morning, the pen was opened at approximately 11:00 am. We will be posting updates on the birds when we can, here. So check back regularly for new information on our newly fledged four falcons!
Update 1 (approximately 1:30 pm)
Blue was the first to leave and took flight within seconds of the pen door opening. The bird flew to a window sill on the south side of the Truist building where he remained for a period of time before taking flight once more and heading north. We are unsure of his current location at this time but are keeping watch for the bird.
Yellow left the pen next. She spent a few minutes on the ledge of the building before fledging around 11:45 am. The bird spent several hours on the roof of the First National building before taking flight and circling Kanawha Plaza multiple times. She eventually landed on a building at the corner of S 8th and Main where she remains at the time of this writing.
Red was the third to leave at approximately at 12:15 pm. After a short flight around Kanawha plaza it flew back to the Riverfront building where it perched atop one of the towers. At 1:30 pm he was observed feeding on a prey item and at the time of this writing he is suspected to still be in this same location.
White was the last bird to fledge having done so at approximately 12:30 pm. Due to a lot of simultaneous activity we are not sure where it went immediately after leaving Riverfront. At approximately 12:45 the bird attempted to land on the Federal Reserve building but was unsuccessful. Note that the bird did not collide with the building, it simply miscalculated the landing angle needed. It was temporarily grounded at the Federal Reserve for a short period of time before flying into a nearby parking deck. Staff, including a Wildlife Veterinarian, located the bird in the parking deck where it was observed perching on a railing. The bird appeared alert and in good condition. However, staff elected not to attempt capture as it could potentially spook the bird causing it to become grounded once more in a high traffic area. The bird is currently being observed at this location by multiple staff on hand to intervene if need be.
End of Day Update
Despite numerous staff scouring the city at street level as well as surveying rooftops from varying vantage points, we were unable to relocate Blue. Based on some vocalizations we heard and the behaviors witnessed by the adults, we suspect that he is out of sight on the roof of the Truist building. Staff will attempt to locate him again tomorrow morning.
Following her time spent on the building at the corner of S 8th and Main, Yellow relocated to the west-facing Truist sign. She remained here for the remainder of the monitoring session and was still in place when staff departed around 6:00 pm. While here, she received a meal from one of the adults.
Red remained at his location atop the Riverfront Plaza’s West Tower parapet for the remainder of the afternoon and was still in place at the time DWR staff departed the city. While here, he was delivered a meal by one of the adults.
We regret to report that White suffered a fatal injury shortly after the last update was published. After flying into a parking deck and perching atop one of the outer railings, staff located White but due to her precarious location atop a parking deck railing/wall, staff elected to observe her at a distance. Any attempts to capture her at this location would have been almost certainly unsuccessful and staff did not want to risk her getting spooked so close to I-95 where she could become grounded in traffic. Unfortunately, a car exiting the parking garage drove past her causing her to take flight and collide with the Federal Reserve building. DWR’s Wildlife Veterinarian and several biologists were able to get to the bird within minutes of this happening but the falcon had unfortunately died upon impact with the building.
Our annual FledgeWatch efforts are organized each year in conjunction with the pen opening so that we can have a multitude of staff on hand to intervene in the event a young bird is grounded and needs assistance. Unfortunately due to circumstances outside of our control, intervention was just not possible in this situation. This unfortunate event represents the worst possible outcome that could be expected from this much anticipated fledging event and underscores the critical need to monitor the progress that young urban falcons make as they leave the nest.
Although we are all disheartened by this loss, we will be reconvening tomorrow morning for another day of monitoring and will continue to provide updates on Red, Yellow, and Blue as we can.
- Read more updates in the archive…
Internet service to the Falcon Cam provided courtesy of Comcast Business.
The DWR Falcon Cam follows the breeding season of a peregrine falcon pair that nests in downtown Richmond, Virginia. The nest box is located atop the Riverfront Plaza building. If you’re in the area, look up! You may catch a glimpse of the famous birds! We hope each year that the pair will once again choose to nest at this site, so that our camera may provide an educational experience for all to enjoy.