Buckeye has found a new mate, and the two are expecting. Four reddish-brown eggs are being carefully tended on a ledge 12 stories above the sidewalks of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Cameras on the ledge of the Terminal Tower building are connected to the Internet and record every move, and school children across the country are keeping tabs on the relationship via computer. It's like MTV's The Real World, with feathers.

Back from the Brink
Buckeye's love story is at the heart of "Raptors in the City," an innovative curriculum combining environmental science, technology and careful study of big-city peregrine falcons like Buckeye and his mate. The curriculum itself is the result of the love story between peregrine falcons and humans. "I know everyone who knows falcons," says Debbie Mathies, a Bridgeport, Connecticut teacher and peregrine enthusiast who created the program. "We're a specialized group, people are really fanatical about these birds. They are the fastest creatures on earth, they go 200 miles per hour in a dive."

"About three or four years ago, a group of us got together and did a children's book about the peregrine falcon: another teacher, an artist and myself," explained Mathies. (The book is The Peregrine Falcon: Endangered No More, by Mac Priebe, Mindfull Publishing, 2000.) "I was interested in the falcon because it is an example of an endangered species that recovered. Researching the book led me to see this wonderful connection between these birds and inner-city kids." Mathies believes that for urban kids, "the peregrine is proving to be a species they can call their own: the fastest creature on earth soaring among the skyscrapers."

The peregrine was considered extinct east of the Mississippi and endangered in the nation for a 30-year period. But it has soared back to a population level that enabled it to be removed from the endangered species list in 1999. "Traditionally cliff-dwellers, they have now set up shop on skyscrapers," says Mathies. "They eat lots of pigeons."

Watching and Learning
Mathies decided that the lessons in the peregrine's story could be adapted into a curriculum for elementary-school children that would integrate technology standards as well as science standards. She has created a package of materials that includes research projects—some based on the Internet—as well as writing and journal-keeping activities. As children demonstrate their growing knowledge, they win feathers, and as they accumulate feathers they receive awards.

The program is designed to be used during the peregrine falcon nesting season, which coincides roughly with the spring semester. Students keep track of the action at the Cleveland nest site, one of the most productive falcon nesting sites in the Midwest. They can also check in on other falcon nesting sites in Canada and the United States. The curriculum meets National Science Educational Content Standards, and National Educational Technology Standards.

The program is being used in nine schools in six states, from Connecticut to California. Mathies is in the process of setting up a nonprofit in an effort to get some grant funding and expand its use. The low-cost curriculum can be adapted for use by after-school programs and mentoring programs. "I'd love to see it in more after-school settings, it's such a fun thing, so informal," says Mathies.

Ohio Division of Wildlife volunteer Scott Wright, who is also an avid photographer, sends the participants a "Falcon Flash" e-mail newsletter each week. Wright has been monitoring the Cleveland site for the past 10 nesting seasons. "I couldn't even begin to calculate the hours," says Wright. "I try not to humanize the birds, but I try to educate people. I give the birds personas so people will find them more fascinating. It takes time and experience to know what they are doing, what each vocalization means. It takes thousands of hours. Are they agitated? Is there an intruder?"

In a recent "Flash," Wright told students about the encounter between the falcons and a crew of window washers: "It was quite a sight yesterday as three window washers descended on ropes right past the nest. Buckeye made a good showing of trying to chase the window washers away., but he gave up after 6-7 passes—the window washers were very afraid of SW (the female)—but I told them to only watch out for Buckeye, as SW would not attack them. I kept an eye on Buckeye and alerted the window washers to duck at the proper moment." After the washers were gone, Wright explained, SW returned to the nest box and Buckeye went and killed a pigeon, which he brought to SW.

Falcon life can get rough. Last spring, for instance, a female named Zenith who has been Buckeye's mate for the past several years returned from her winter migration in late March and killed another female who had mated with Buckeye and already laid her first egg. "It was very traumatic for me," says Mathies. "I dreaded telling the kids. But of course, they loved it. It gets to be such a soap opera." Buckeye and Zenith then successfully hatched three eggs.

Falcon watchers now are wondering whether Buckeye's current mate could meet a similar fate, if Zenith were to return. "We're biting our nails here," says Mathies. She notes that peregrine falcons are supposed to be monogamous, "but out of sight, out of mind. Whenever Zenith is gone, Buckeye seems to think she's dead." Not all peregrines migrate, and Buckeye lives year-round in Cleveland.

Making Connections
Teacher Monica Sprei of the Jefferson Elementary School in Norwalk, Connecticut was one of two teachers to use the curriculum during the 2001 nesting season, and is using it again this year. Two other fifth-grade teachers at the school have also started with the curriculum.

Sprei says the story of the peregrines gives her a chance to teach about pollution, since the now-banned insecticide DDT played a big role in the peregrine's brush with extinction, and the importance of protecting the environment. "It all comes together for them: that it's important not to dirty the water supply, or spray chemicals around. They are always interested in stuff like that because it affects them."

In California, Lynne Harvey is using the program with a group of three fourth-grade boys. "They are totally engaged," says Harvey. "They have developed their own observation schedule—checking the live cam when they arrive in the morning, at recess, and just before going home.

Harvey says the boys enjoyed watching two of the four eggs being laid, and seeing the falcons enjoy a breakfast of freshly-killed bird one morning. Now that the eggs are incubating, Harvey plans to rely more heavily on the activities suggested in the curriculum, to keep the boys interested until the eggs hatch.

"I'm hoping the boys first gain an appreciation for these incredible birds, nature, and survival issues that face many animals today," says Harvey. "Secondly, I hope by having such a high-interest topic to explore they will get extra practice reading and writing, and with a real purpose for utilizing these skills, realize their importance."

If the female SW and her eggs survive the threat of Zenith, the eggs should hatch in early April. Then the real excitement begins, as the chicks grow and develop, then start their flying lessons. "They're like 16-year-olds with the key to a new Ferrari," says Wright. "They can go really fast. A lot of the young have a tendency to smack into glass windows, or misjudge a landing." Some do not survive. "Then, after about 8 weeks, when the young are fledged, they catch a good wind and you don't see them again."

Sprei says her students are fascinated by a bird that lives life quite literally on the edge. "These are 11-year-old kids," she says of her 5th grade students. "They love the drama. Something that eats something else is pretty exciting, especially if you can watch it."

• To learn more about Raptors in the City, contact Debbie Mathies.
• To see live images of the nest site, visit the falcon camera.