Peregrine Falcon Nest Box, Iatan Generating Station, Weston Live Cam

This fixed camera looks into a peregrine falcon nest box near the top of a smokestack at the Iatan Generating Station north of Weston, Missouri. Past the gravel floor and two wooden perches at the opening, the frame looks down on plant roads, buildings and open fields.

The Iatan Generating Station is a coal-fired power plant in Platte County, in the Missouri River valley upstream of Kansas City. Its first unit opened in 1980 and a second followed in 2010. Peregrine falcons have nested in the box for several years, and state biologists who monitor nests around Kansas City band the young in late spring.

Unlike rooftop nest cameras in nearby cities, this one sits high above an industrial site, so the open front of the box frames a wide view of the valley floor. Feathers lie among the stones, and outside the nesting season the box is often empty.