Cliff Dwelling  A proposal for a habitat for peregrine falcons in a skyscraper

Carved into a skyscraper, Cliff Dwelling provides a nesting site habitat for wild peregrine falcons in an urban environment. By offering the peregrine falcon a place among us, this iconic outcrop reasserts the primacy of wildlife and natural forces in our increasingly urban world and serves as an symbol of how we can coexist with our fellow species. The glass skin of a skyscraper is pulled in to make room for the overhanging ledges of artificial rock. Inside, space is provided for public viewing. Unlike a zoo, the birds are not fed or caged. Here the people are confined. The falcons are free.

Conservation biologists at the Portland Audubon Society, the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, the Raptor Rehabilitation Center in Minneapolis have reviewed this proposal and say it can work with some modifications to the habitat’s glass wall as it’s currently shown here. The project would be a collaboration with architects and a conservation organization that could manage the care of the birds and educate the public. The sculpture would provide a dramatic accent to the composition of a skyscraper that, combined with the excitement of observing wildlife in action, would attract school groups, biologists and the general public to the site. It would become a cultural and natural asset to its city.

Wild peregrines may, at some point, come to nest there on their own but a better strategy, called hacking, involves releasing young birds from the site itself. Fertile eggs are taken from breeding pairs and hatched in a laboratory. The fledgling falcons are then placed in special nesting boxes (hacks) on the skyscraper. Here the hack box will be placed on the rock ledges in the nesting site. Over the next 7 weeks a supervising biologist and hack site attendant feed and monitor the fledglings until they are able to fly and hunt for themselves.

Once established in the nesting site, a pair of falcons will remain there for years. In both urban settings and in the wild, a prime nesting site becomes well known to falcons in the region, and if the site is abandoned by one pair, it will likely be inhabited by another in short order.

The space adjacent to the habitat should be accessible to the public and contain interpretive graphics that provide information about the falcons as well as monitors for remote video cameras. Other educational and interactive devices could also be provided that enhance the public’s access and appreciation of these amazing creatures.

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1993

lithograph, pastel and watercolor on paper   24” x 40”