The pesticide DDT was responsible for wiping out large populations of top predator birds in Michigan and across the country. One of the most well known was the bald eagle whose eggs, thinned by the pesticide, cracked during incubation.
DDT was banned in the 1970s and raptors — with some help from wildlife biologists — started to make a comeback.
One of those birds, the peregrine falcon, is still endangered in Michigan. But peregrines are doing much better now after and are recovering after being wiped out everywhere east of the Mississippi.
Karen Cleveland, an all-bird biologist at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, joined Stateside today to explain what these birds are like, where they are now, and what conservation efforts have helped them make this comeback.
Listen above to learn how the peregrine falcon achieves its title as the fastest animal on Earth, and why the birds have taken to skyscrapers in cities throughout Michigan's Lower Peninsula.
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