Q-lister makes front page - no Audi content

[Lynn Smith <lynn@dvcorp.com>]

>From the front page of today's Springfield Union News, reprinted w/o 
permission:

Just renovated, river view: Falcons nesting on bridge
by William Freebairn, staff writer
-----------------------------------------------------
Springfield's wayward peregrine falcons, plus several newly hatched chicks,
have been located in a nest under the Memorial Bridge.

State wildlife biologists confirmed yesterday that the missing pair is
occupying a former pigeon nest on an 18-inch wide concrete ledge under one
of the arches on the West Springfield side of the bridge.

"It appears they have young," said Thomas French, assistant director for
natural heritage at the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

Falcons Andy and Bridget had been stars of their own show on cable
television and the Springfield hockey teams was named after them, so
citizens were concerned when they went missing from their traditional nest
on the Monarch Place high-rise this spring.  The discovery means they
were not lost at all, just secluded in a new nest tucked under the bridge.

Robert D. Russell ('89 200q), president of American Exterminating, spotted
and heard the wayward falcons on April 26.

"I was out fishing at a bass tournament with my friend Kevin Mulcahy, when
we saw a bird divebombing a passer-by on the bridge.

"I said, 'Kevin, that's not a bird, that's a falcon.'"

Russell noticed the distinctive cry of the aggressive falcon which he
recognized from encounters with the bird at Monarch Place.  Russell's pest
control company contracts to provide spider control for Monarch.

Falcons have nested in Springfield since 1989 and their nest site has been
shown on cable television from a camera behind a window on their chosen
ledge at Monarch Place.  Officials said it was not likely a camera could be
placed near the new nest.

<snip>

There are four nesting pairs of peregrine falcons in the state.  Two live
atop high-rise buildings in Boston, and another pair nests inside a hollow
girder on the Bragon Bridge in Fall River, a comfortable 140 feet above the
water.

-- 
Lynn Smith
lynn@dvcorp.com
'84 4kq
'89 200qw