Hi! My name is Roosevelt and this is my mate, Freedom. Welcome to our new year of FalconCam! Last year's show was such a success that we've returned from hiatus and are ready to bring you another season of falcon adventures.

You might say we're birds of a feather - we're peregrine falcons and we live atop the American Electric Power office building in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At 26 stories high, we've got a terrific view of the city because we are on top of the tallest building in town. It's almost like being on top of a 400-foot-high cliff. You can always visit us by watching AEP's FalconCam. If you're in Fort Wayne, you can spot us hanging around at Wayne and Calhoun Streets Downtown. Last year we were joined by our four chicks. We egged them on for several weeks before they hatched in the spring. If you pay close attention to our web site, you may get to see this year's young ones.

We're very happy with our condo developer, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. This five-walled nest box was built by the department's biologists in 1993, but no tenants used it until a few years ago when my falcon friends, Ms. Freedom from Evansville and Bandit from Alabama, moved in and started having kids. Indiana Department of Natural Resources set up the TV camera to instantly tend to our every need. In '98 Bandit moved out, as we falcons do from time-to-time, and I joined Freedom to produce four terrific chicks.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources biologists and volunteers from Soarin' Hawk and the Audubon Society help take care of us. They keep up the place, tickle us once a year while they weigh us (I've gained a little from those pigeon dinners) and if the kids aren't feeling well, they take good care of them.

I've just got to say on behalf of birds everywhere, that we really appreciate what you humans do for us. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, The Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo and the Audubon Society Stockbridge Chapter helped falcons like us get started in nesting boxes back in 1992. This stuff you call money came from people all over Indiana who checked off a non-game fund contribution when they paid their income tax. About 20 other companies and community groups also gave money to help us get a claw hold here in the city. I'm grateful to you all.

AEP has been a good friend to us and my many fine feathered friends. They've set up this web site so everyone in Indiana and elsewhere on the planet can watch us.

AEP has made sure there's a home for great blue herons near Fairbanks, Indiana, by setting aside about 140 acres of swampy land for them to use. Our cousins are much bigger than we - about 4 feet tall with wing spans over six feet. They raise families at the Prairie Creek Rookery with help from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Nature Conservancy. A little bird told me there were more than 100 families nesting in the wetlands. The blue herons are a lot more patient than we are for breakfast - they don't move a muscle or feather while standing in the water and then ZAP - they catch a tasty frog or fish.

AEP has also assisted my friends, the turkeys, by helping the right kinds of plants grow for them in the 18,000 miles of transmission line rights-of-way and 311,000 acres of land AEP owns. The turkeys are very happy because they won't have to walk far for food and nesting materials.

I've talked to lots of other birds and found out that AEP's Habitat Protection and Enhancement Programs are helping what you call Bio Diversity. AEP has improved habitats on its property with the aid of the Wildlife Habitat Council. AEP gave The Nature Conservancy a 2,950-acre wetland on Lake Erie's Sandusky Bay so the bird of all birds (in my book anyway) the Bald Eagle, could nest comfortably. Last week, while I was human-watching with some parrot friends from South America, I learned that AEP helped protect two million acres of tropical forest in Bolivia and expand the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park to four million acres. The parrots and all of their friends are grateful that they'll be able to stay in their homes.

Please check out the rest of our web site, including the links to other raptor conservation organizations, and keep an eye on our photos throughout the day. Our exclusive FalconCam takes a new picture of us every thirty seconds. If we're not there, we're probably out making a pigeon run or looking for some other tasty snack. TTFN!