One of the peregrine parents looks on in 2008 as a firefighter, after rappelling through heavy rain from the roof to the 13th-storey ledge, prepares to remove the three white falcon chicks. (CBC)

A popular pair of endangered peregrine falcons have hatched three chicks on the ledge of a downtown Winnipeg hotel.

The pair, which have been annually nesting on a ledge on the 13th floor of the Radisson Hotel for the past few years, returned to the city despite being struck by misfortune in 2008. Heavy June rains drowned three chicks that year, despite a dramatic rescue attempt by a Winnipeg firefighter who rappelled down the side of the building.

The deaths shocked viewers from around the world, who watch the progress of the falcon family via a live webcam — dubbed the Falcon Cam — attached near the nest. The camera is a project involving CBC Manitoba, Shaw Cable Systems and the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project.

'When the rain hit last year and the chicks got wet, mom didn't really have a chance to dry them out before the water started to rise from below and make them all wet again.'—Tracy Maconachie, Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project

Condolences for the falcons were posted on the CBC website by people from Australia, Japan, the United States, Canada and the U.K.

One of four chicks belonging to the same falcon pair fell to its death before the eyes of online viewers in 2007. Dozens of people from around the world contacted CBC Manitoba and the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project to report the chick's fall.

Tracy Maconachie, a conservation biologist who has co-ordinated the recovery project for 16 years, said steps have been taken this year to give the family a little more protection. A local window washing company was able to place a box filled with gravel on the ledge.

"When the rain hit last year and the chicks got wet, mom didn't really have a chance to dry them out before the water started to rise from below and make them all wet again," she said.

20-year history of falcons nesting at hotel

Various pairs of the peregrine falcons have been nesting on the hotel ledge since 1989. The current pair have been together since 2004 and are the sixth set to take up residence there.

Maconachie said at least one of their offspring has survived every year and has been spotted nesting elsewhere in the city.

"It's a good record. You are lucky if you get one," she said.

In the wild, five to seven out of every 10 peregrine falcon chicks die in the first year, according to Maconachie.

The sex of the latest falcon chicks won't be known until they are banded in a few weeks.

The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on the planet, reaching speeds of more than 300 km/h in a dive, with nostrils so adept at breathing during its dives that scientists mimicked the function for use in fighter jets.

In Canada and the United States, it is illegal to kill peregrines or disrupt their nests.

Click the link at the top right of this page or look for the Falcon Cam in the list of CBC Manitoba features on the website.