Peregrines nest in towns and cities from coast to coast in
the United States. The urban locations make the birds easier to watch, which
leads to an abundant supply of photos and videos as the puffy progeny come out
of their shells each spring.
Peregrines, like bald eagles, nearly went extinct during
the mid-20th century because of exposure to the pesticide DDT. By the time the
species was given federal endangered species protection in the 1970s, there
were just 324 known nesting pairs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
Today there are 2,000 to 3,000 pairs, according to the
agency, which took the species off the federal endangered species list in 1999.
Wildlife officials around the country continue to monitor
the birds, however. Many cities make special efforts to manage local peregrine
nesting sites, providing special structures and banding baby birds for future
tracking. Partly this is good public relations, but with peregrine numbers
still relatively low, the extra attention also helps biologists keep tabs on
the health of individual birds as they grow up and find mates of their own.
This new peregrine family includes one baby male and three
baby females. They live in a special nesting box set 215 feet up a tower of the
Marine Parkway Bridge in New York City. City and state wildlife officials
recently banded the chicks so they can be tracked as they mate and raise their
own families.
Peregrine falcons have endangered species status in New
York state.
In Lowell, Massachusetts, last week, a peregrine named
Merri flew over the head of a staffer from the Massachusetts fish and wildlife
agency, who had just returned her newly banded chicks to their nest.
This falcon family’s home is a rooftop nesting box atop the
18 story tall Fox Hall, a dormitory on the University of Massachusetts–Lowell
campus.
One of Merri’s chicks, newly banded and ready for its
close-up. UMass regularly posts video streams and status updates on this falcon
family.
Merri has been raising chicks at Fox Hall for 10 years,
according to the university.
These downy peregrine babies—two males and two females—are
nesting 693 feet above sea level atop New York City’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge,
which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island.
According to a statement from the Metropolitan Transit
Authority, which manages the city’s river crossings, 12 peregrine babies are in
residence this season on three of the city’s bridges.
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