
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990                   TAG: 9003290287
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD, MASS.                                LENGTH: Short

THIS CABLE CHANNEL IS FOR THE BIRDS

Couch-bound bird watchers are entering a new television season watching their favorite stars, two peregrine falcons in the permanent eye of a cable channel's camera.

The camera mounted on the 21st story of a downtown office building clicked on again last week, giving watchers a bird's eye view of the falcon's nest.

The falcons became TV stars last summer when Continental Cablevision mounted a camera near their nest on a ledge of the building. The pictures were broadcast on a channel for educational programming.

Nobody else is using the public access channel, so it's entirely for the birds.

Tom French, director of the state's endangered species program, said the show is more than an entertaining glimpse of nature.

Among the first season highlights were the first hatchings of young peregrine falcons in western Massachusetts in 40 years and a June thriller when French rappelled down the side of the building to rescue a baby falcon that was choking on a piece of meat. Alert viewers had noticed the chick's distress and called in the situation to cable officials.

by CNB