FALCONS: The 18th courtship season for the Harrisburg falcons began just in time for the Valentine’s Day holiday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced the start of the courtship season on Wednesday.

The falcons have a nesting site on the 15th-floor ledge of the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg. It’s fitting the birds found a spot in the building where the DEP central office is located.

“The return of healthy peregrine falcon populations after their dramatic decline in the mid-20th century is one of the great environmental comeback stories, and Pennsylvania plays and important role,” said DEP secretary Patrick McDonnell.

McDonnell further explained the significance.

“By 1960, when DDT was in wide use, there were almost no peregrine nests in the eastern United States,” said Secretary McDonnell. “Biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson, a Pennsylvania native, detailed DDT’s insidious effects on wildlife in her groundbreaking book, ‘Silent Spring,’ and helped bring about a ban on this pesticide in the 1970s.”

Thanks to work by groups such as the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Peregrine Fund, the nest sites in Pennsylvania have now surpassed pre-DDT levels.

The longtime residents of the ledge that are currently there are a 9-year-old female and a 15-year-old male.

“But if anything can spark competition, it’s love and real estate, and two newcomers have appeared at the ledge in recent weeks: an 8-year-old male, banded in Clinton County, and almost 2-year-old female banded in Logan Township, N.J.,” the DEP reports.

Which pair will claim the nesting site this year?

Bradfordians can view the falcons live on the FalconCam, which can be found online at www.dep.pa.gov/falcons. There’s a really cool video on YouTube of the highlights from the 2017 season, too, that can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u-JKEGswKU&feature=youtu.be.