May 8, 2005. A Falconcam video image shows a peregine falcon foster parent with two 16-day-old chicks in the nest. Visit the Shenandoah National Park Falconcam.

Peregrine falcon update, May 2006

by Pam Owen

The pair of peregrine falcons that were nesting in the Stony Man area of Shenandoah National Park had their four eggs destroyed in heavy rains on April 22. The poor selection of nest site contributed to the loss, says Rolf Gubler, the biologist who oversees the Peregrine Restoration and Monitoring Program for the Park. Fortunately, staff from the Center for Conservation Biology at William and Mary, who partners with the Park and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in the program, successfully transferred two 2-day-old peregrine chicks on April 26 from a nest on a bridge near Richmond into the Stony Man nest scrape—the rocky ledge where peregrines nest.

	One of the nesting pair of parents. Photo courtesy Shenandoah National Park.

Nest sites above water, such as the one near Richmond, put peregrine chicks at risk when they fledge, as they often fall into the water and drown. To help save these chicks and reestablish nesting pairs in the Virginia mountains, some of the chicks are often moved to sites in the Park. The program's staff hope the peregrine pair there will successfully foster the transferred chicks.

Things are going well with the fostered chicks (see the Falconcam image above). The adults are feeding and taking care of the chicks. The Center for Conservation Biology and Shenandoah National Park have set up a live [in season] webcam for the nest, which can be accessed at http://www.ccb-wm.org/vafalcons/falconcam/falconcam.htm. (Three additional peregrine webcam sites are also accessible through the same web page.)

For more on the peregrine program, go to "Reintroduction program brings peregrine falcons back to the Virginia mountains."

 

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