JACKSON, MI – They did it again.

The infamous pair of rare peregrine falcons who have claimed the top of the Jackson County Tower Building as their home are expecting three chicks this spring.

Big Red, with the help of Chayton, has laid eggs in Jackson three times since 2010, the most recent being the three eggs she is now taking care of atop the County Tower Building.



Click here to watch Big Red live and maybe catch a glimpse of her eggs.

In 2010, the falcons courted, mated and laid three eggs high atop the tower building, 120 W. Michigan Ave. It’s the tallest building in the county.

The falcons began nesting there after a two-year effort by the county. The large birds had been seen around the building for many years, but it took the adding of pea gravel to nooks and crannies on the building for nesting to occur.

They fledged three chicks in 2010, returned in 2011 and fledged three more chicks, and last year fledged four.

Over the years the falcons have become well-known in the county. Anyone walking downtown Jackson on a Sunday afternoon will get a chance to witness (and hear) the falcons preying on food, usually pigeons.

Jackson County officials have made it a point to protect the falcons. When any type of work is conducted on top of the building, the county stipulates in a contract that work must not be conducted during certain times of the year. When Sprint Wireless added towers to the top of the building, the company had to agree to a clause in the contract that stated the work would not take place during nesting season.

The falcons were even mentioned in Jackson's Pure Michigan radio campaign.

Chayton hatched in Toledo in 2007, and Big Red hatched in Chicago in 2008. Those facts are known because peregrine falcons are so rare all hatchlings are routinely named and fitted with leg bands.