The three peregrine falcon chicks that bailed out of their nest last weekend atop a building in Downtown Boise have been causing quite a stir.

The nest box is on the 14th floor of One Capital Center, at 10th and Main streets.

It has been a cool story since the first of the four eggs was laid in April 10. The young birds are doing OK, but there have been a couple of mishaps.

Fish and Game biologist Bruce Haak has had to do two rescues so far. The first one was Saturday after a male fledged and flew into a car. After two nights of observation, Haak put him back up at the nest box Saturday morning. A female hit the side of Hotel 43 but got herself safely to a window ledge. A dedicated group of bird watchers has been observing her every move. On another night, Haak picked up one of the females that was in the street around Myrtle. The volunteers who are following the chicks around thought she was flying funny and might be injured, but Haak said she appears to be fine.

By the way, the fourth egg did not hatch.

The nesting project is a cooperative effort by The Peregrine Fund and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, with camera and web hosting supplied by Fiberpipe. Monitors were installed in the lobby at One Capital Center, courtesy of Oppenheimer Development Corporation, for passers-by to observe the birds.

This nest is one of 42 recent and historical nesting locations in Idaho, according to the Peregrine Fund. Peregrine Falcons were essentially gone from Idaho about 40 years ago when the pesticide DDT was decimating raptors. From 1982 to 1995, The Peregrine Fund and state and federal wildlife agencies released 188 captive-produced falcons at 15 Idaho locations, the Peregrine Fund Web site says.

It's really neat to have these wild birds flying around Boise. It's also neat that the peregrine falcon population has come such a long ways. If you want to keep up on the daily antics of the young birds, see www.peregrinefund.org