Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette Wildlife conservation officer Beth Fife passes a peregrine falcon -- the mother of four chicks -- inside from a nesting site on a ledge on the 37th floor of the Gulf Tower to be examined by UPMC veterinarian Robert Wagner. The chicks also were examined. Click photo for larger image.

The over-protective mother of four peregrine falcon chicks was brought inside an office on the 37th floor of the Gulf Tower, Downtown, to oversee today's medical exams and identification banding of the young birds.

It wasn't unprecedented for the mother falcon to attend, but it wasn't planned either. She just would not go away when Pennsylvania Game Commission officers ventured out to the 37th floor ledge nesting box to bring in her downy-feathered chicks.

"She learned from last year and just grabbed on to my gloved hand as I reached for her chicks and wouldn't let go," said Beth Fife, a Game Commission wildlife conservation officer.

As a result, she was brought inside as a safety precaution and spent the 45 minutes it took to examine and band the chicks in the clutches of Todd Katzner, director of conservation and field research for the National Aviary on Pittsburgh's North Side.

"This female is a problem because she's so aggressive," said Charles Bier, director of natural heritage for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. "The original female falcon at this site would fly by and dive at the game commission folks bringing in the chicks and even cut a few. But this bird will not move off of her nest. She just stands guard, ready to attack."

Once inside, the mother falcon squawked a bit as her pre-fledglings, three males and one female, were examined and pronounced healthy by Dr. Robert Wagner, a University of Pittsburgh veterinarian. They were then fitted with identification ankle bands by the Game Commission and released back onto the ledge, along with their mom.

This is the 16th year that peregrines have nested on the Gulf Tower. When the falcons first arrived in 1991 they were on both the state and federal endangered lists but have made a rapid recovery throughout Pennsylvania and the nation and are no longer on the federal endangered list.

The young peregrines will begin flying any day now and will set out on their own a few weeks after fledging. They usually disperse to areas outside Pittsburgh by the end of summer.

A view of the nesting box is available on the Web.