By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — At least three fluffy Peregrine falcons hatched over Easter weekend on the 14th-story ledge of a Financial District office building.
The baby falcons' first moments — and all their moves since then — have been captured on a live webcam that lets people all over the world watch the falcons eat, sleep, and, eventually, make their first journey out of their nest at 55 Water St.
"They've become quite famous," said Frank Magnani, a vice president at New Water Street Corp., the building's owner. "You can watch nature right in front if you."
The proud parents, who are now busy caring for the new arrivals, are Jubilee and Rocky, the same falcon couple that has been nesting at 55 Water St. for the past couple of years, Magnani said. Falcons mate for life and often return to the same nest year after year.
The baby falcons have been spending most of their first few days sheltered beneath Jubilee, in one unified ball of white fur, emerging only so she can feed them. Magnani has spotted at least three babies but hasn't been able to get close enough to tell whether Jubilee's fourth egg has hatched.
When the falcons are about three weeks old, state and city environmental workers will come by to examine them and place identification bands around their legs, so they can be tracked in the future.
Magnani plans to wait until then to name the baby falcons. He recently started working with Hope for the Warriors, a nonprofit tenant of the building, to name the falcons after wounded or killed soldiers.
Peregrine falcons, which were once endangered but have since rebounded, swoop down on their prey at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, using sharp talons and a tooth-like projection in their jaw. They tend to feed on smaller birds caught in mid-air.
Falcons have been nesting at 55 Water St. since the early 1990s, when workers first spotted them on the 52nd-story roof, Magnani said. When the building underwent a major renovation in the mid-'90s, the falcons moved down to the 14th-floor setback to get away from the construction, and different couples have been nesting there ever since.
