Love and death on a 33rd-floor downtown ledge

Baltimore's peregrine falcons, Boh and Barb, have four eggs in their nest on the 33rd floor of the Transamerica building.

The saga of Baltimore's peregrines began when Scarlett, bred by Cornell University ornithologists, alit here in 1978.

Peregrine falcons were almost driven to extinction by the use of the now-banned pesticide DDT.

Cornell University and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, along with other groups, helped the comeback.

A man-made nest was built on a window ledge at the USF&G building, and human intervention produced a male named Blue Meanie. Scarlett soon laid three eggs, but they proved infertile. A second male, Misha, was brought in, but there were no sparks.

Rhett was brought in and the falcons mated, but Scarlett's eggs again proved infertile. Ashley was brought in, and unlike their namesakes from “Gone With the Wind,” Scarlett and Ashley made a go of it. Scarlett again laid infertile eggs.

A wild peregrine named Beauregard showed up, and he and Scarlett had a brood of four eyases in April 1984 — the first peregrine chicks known to have hatched in the wild in eastern North America since the 1950s.

Scarlett died in September 1984. Beauregard soon met Blythe, and the couple produced many eyases. Blythe died in 1992, and Beauregard continued fathering several broods for years to come.

Which brings us to the reigning monarchs in the city skies, Barb and Boh.

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