Two of Fargo's most popular snowbirds have come home for the spring.
A pair of peregrine falcons has returned to the nesting box on top of the Community First National Bank building, where last year residents watched via a Web camera as four chicks hatched and grew.
One peregrine has been identified through leg tags as Dakota Ace, a male who is spending his fifth year in Fargo, according to an e-mail from Wick Corwin, a Fargo lawyer who monitors the falcons' activity locally.
Corwin hasn't positively identified the second falcon yet, but it looks like Frieda, the chicks' mother, who has spent her last two summers in Fargo, the e-mail said.
Since peregrines are highly territorial, chicks Lewis, Dakota and Holly likely will not return to Fargo, but will branch out to find their own territories. The fourth chick, Clark, was euthanized after an injury, likely from a rooftop fan.
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The Web camera posted in the nesting box on the Community First building, 520 Main Ave., was damaged last year by heat, said Steve Wennblom, executive producer for Riverwatch, the organization that hosts the Falcon Project Web site.
Once the camera is repaired or replaced, residents again will be able to watch the peregrines by visiting www.riverwatch.org and clicking on Falcon Project.
