After returning from a family vacation with no Peregrine nest box sightings from the New Balance webcam, my search continued around the entire Clock Tower area.  Every known perch location and hideout area that has been used by either falcon since September 2011 was part of the search grid….no luck at all.  Each day that my falcon friends remained out of sight caused greater  suspicion that thay may have left the area or something might have happened.  One theory was that thay became irritated by the incessant kestrel call recording at the adjacent National Grid facility.  this recorded call has been used to scare away the night time mobs of crows in the area.

Tom French at MassWildlife suggested that they may have returned to a former nest location in an area of old and abandoned mill buildings on the north side of the Merrimack River.  Tom made this suggestion with a certain degree of confidence that gave me a real boost and a concrete hope of finding the lost peregrines.  Sure enough, while searching high and low around the old mill buildings, one of the pergrines was spotted on an east facing ledge.  HOORAY!!!  Although one sighting does not confimr this is the same pair or that this is the general area of the 2013 pair nest…..it certainly provides a fresh start for the breeding season ahead and the hope that this is the same pair!