This is a story of a public utility with a heart - and two wild peregrine falcons, and a bunch o’ alternative energy programs, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

For the last five years, two peregrine falcons, George and Gracie, hae flown to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s San Francisco headquarters every year and built a nest on the roof 33 flights up. But this year, potential disaster struck.

The pair laid their eggs on the central anchorage of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Alas, this is a lethal location for fledging falcons because they might fly into the water or onto the roadway on their first flight.

Biologists with the UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group plan to rescue the eggs this morning and bring them back to the organization’s research facility in Santa Cruz where the SCPBRG will incubate the eggs and raise the eyases (yes, that’s what you think it is - the babies) until they are fit to be released back into the wild. And PG&E is paying for it.

“When CalTrans retrofitted state bridges, they funded projects to rescue peregrine eggs on bridges,” said Glenn Stewart, program manager for the UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group. “Peregrines continue to nest on bridges but funding is no longer available to underwrite the rescue and release of their young because retrofit operations that disturbed the birds are now complete. The SCPBRG thanks PG&E for their financial contribution to this rescue effort.”

George and Gracie have returned to San Francisco each of the last five years to capture the hearts of countless fans. For three years the peregrine pair nested on a ledge 33 floors atop the PG&E building at 77 Beale Street. In 2005 PG&E installed a Webcam at the nest site so SCPBRG scientists and peregrine followers from around the world could observe the endangered falcons and learn more about their behavior through the Internet.

To fund the “nest cam” and support the SCPBRG’s educational outreach to hundreds of high schools and middle schools throughout California, PG&E provided an annual $35,000 contribution to the SCPBRG in 2005 and 2006.