Chicks aplenty: DNR says Indiana peregrine falcons thriving

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Wildlife officials say Indiana's peregrine falcon populations are thriving more than a quarter-century after the raptors were introduced to the state.

The state Department of Natural Resources says its crews banded 40 peregrine chicks this spring at nine sites around Indiana. That's up from the 32 agency staffers banded last year.

But DNR nongame bird biologist Allisyn Gillet says the number of Indiana falcons hatched this year is likely even higher than the 40 chicks staffers found and banded.

She says some of the birds' known nesting sites are inaccessible to biologists, and there may be other nest sites not yet discovered.

Indiana began its peregrine falcon reintroduction project in 1991 in Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and South Bend. The birds nest on buildings, under bridges and on industrial smokestacks.