PG&E to Shut Off SF’s Beloved “Falcon Cam” After 15 Years
By Olivia Wynkoop, Bay City News Foundation
Fifteen years after the cameras started rolling, PG&E will stop streaming its 24/7 Falcon Cam on October 15 after selling its San Francisco headquarters.
Watch the PG&E Falcon Cam LIVE (through October 15, 2021) – please note that often times especially when it’s not nesting season there’s no falcons and you’ll just be staring at a rooftop and a view of the traffic on the Bay Bridge.
The 33rd floor ledge of 77 Beale St. has served as a successful nesting site for falcons since 1986, thanks to the work of the University of California at Santa Cruz’s Predatory Bird Research Group. Almost 50 peregrines hatched in front of an international audience since PG&E set up a livestream in 2005.
Audiences tuned in to watch researchers put on tracking bands to baby falcons, see falcon parents bond with their young, and participate in naming contests. Dr. Zeka Glucs, director of PBRG, said these live interactions gave the public a deeper connection to falcon conservation efforts, which was essential for a breed that was nearing extinction in the 1970s.
“This nest and webcam are the No. 1 personal peregrine encounter I hear about when I tell people what I do for a living or give an educational presentation,” Glucs said in a statement. “Peregrines are an iconic species, and these personal connections with wildlife in the modern world help create a collective will to be better stewards of our environment.”
Other Bay Area Falcon Cams
– UC Berkeley – See Annie and Grinnell, the Cal Falcons. They have been nesting on top of UC Berkeley’s historic Campanile since 2017. Come check out our live webcams to see what we’re up to!
PG&E has contributed $330,000 in shareholder funds to the research group and will continue to support them until at least 2022. The company will also continue to retrofit utility poles in its Avian Protection Program, which prevents bird electrocutions and builds platforms for predatory bird nesting.
Copyright © 2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.
