Three baby peregrine falcons chicks have a new home on the Mid-Hudson Bridge, New York State Bridge Authority officials said earlier this month.
Wildlife biologists recently visited the bridge to place leg tags on the chicks and monitor the perch. Mother and children were pronounced healthy and in great shape.
The name Peregrine means “wanderer,” and northern-nesting Peregrines are among North America’s long-distance migratory species, traveling as much as 10,000 miles a year. Peregrines mate for life and usually return to the same nesting spot each year. The state Bridge Authority provides nesting areas on each of its five spans for Peregrines.
According to Heinz Meng, who taught biology at SUNY New Paltz for 55 years and is a noted local authority on raptors, bridges attract peregrines because their height is a good vantage point for the spotting of prey. “It’s sort of like a cliff, they can fly up high and when pigeons fly across the river, (the falcons) are high up and they can just swoop right down – it’s a perfect place to catch their prey,” Meng said earlier this month.
Meng said peregrines, when it’s time to have more peregrines, look for a spot similar to where they grew up to have their babies, called eyas.
“The ones that go on bridges were probably raised on a bridge, so when they’re ready to breed, they’ll look for a place like they where they were bred,” Meng said.
The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird on the planet in its hunting dive, soaring to a half mile or more, then diving at speeds in excess of 200 mph. The top speed recorded for a peregrine dive is 242.3 mph.
Eyas grow the downy coat as they mature. It is expected that the chicks will take flight in the very near future. A medium-sized falcon, the peregrine will grow to about 15 to 21 inches long and have a wingspan of more than three feet.
Peregrines suffered with all Hudson River raptors by the dumping of PCBs in the river. They would eat contaminated prey and the toxins would cause their eggs to come out damaged, cutting the population dramatically. The dumping of PCBs was halted and in 1970, the peregrine was federally protected in the United States. Peregrines have since made a strong recovery, aided by wildlife management such as providing habitats on structures like the bridges over the Hudson River.
“The peregrines are in great shape – better than they’ve ever been,” Meng said.