1st egg for Franklin Institute hawks

The hawks nesting on a third-floor ledge of the Franklin Institute laid their first egg today.

Moment ago, the web cam was already attracting more than 130 visitors and rising as news of the egg spread.

These birds have become a worldwide phenomenon. The number of viewers escalates hugely when the eggs actually hatch and the gangly little creatures get their first experience of the world.  Last year, there were three, and the youngsters emerged on April 20 and 21.

It's not so much that red-tailed hawks are unusual in a city, although they're hardly common, either. The attraction is that viewers get an up-close and personal view of wildlife doing their thing.

Nature web cams have gone wild in recent years, giving people views of everything from seals lolling on California beaches to zoo pandas chomping on bamboo.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has a web cam on two peregrine falcons that nest atop the agency's Rachel Carson building in Harrisburg, and that female recently laid her first egg, too. Today, there are three.

Want to keep tabs on some bald eagles? The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey is featuring on its website an EagleCam at the Duke Farms in central New Jersey.

That pair has three eggs, too, and the first could hatch by about April 4.