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After the chemicals that led to its near-extinction were virtually banned by 1972, the peregrine began to make a strong recovery, partly because of restoration programs such as the one in the Park. In 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally removed the peregrine from the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife. However, it is still considered a threatened species in many states, including Virginia. The peregrine's bold markings—bluish upper parts, black cap, black moustaches below the eye, white chin, and buff-colored underparts barred with brown—give it a striking appearance. However, the peregrine is not just a beauty queen; no other bird species is on record as matching its speed and maneuverability during a hunting flight. It is "nature's perfect aerodynamic performer," as one of its biographers put it. In going after its prey—generally smaller birds—peregrines will circle high above before making a near-vertical dive ("stoop"), folding their wings closely to their bodies and using their tails to change direction or slow flight. The maximum speed of peregrines, hotly debated and hard to test for centuries, was finally put on record a few years ago after a Duke University researcher, using an instrument he invented, clocked male peregrines in full stoop at 180 miles per hour. If a peregrine's downward attack isn't successful, it can pursue its prey in level flight at a speed of up to 60 miles per hour, quickly changing course as necessary. This style of hunting lends itself to open spaces, so although the species pretty much covers the planet, it's absent from dense forestland. Peregrines kill with their talons, often stunning or disabling their airborne prey on the first pass, then swooping back to catch it in mid-air. A peregrine will go after more than 100 species of birds as well as occasionally small mammals and amphibians. About the size of a crow, peregrines have also been known to kill and carry off ducks that are larger than they are. The peregrine's name comes from the word "peregrinate," which means to journey or travel from place to place. Once distributed worldwide, the peregrine now breeds primarily in the arctic region. However, breeding pairs are only slowly coming back to other areas, primarily because of the reintroduction programs. This former poster child for all that is wild is now rapidly infiltrating cities, using tall buildings as nesting sites and as vantage points to pick off pigeons below.
The Peregrine Falcon Restoration and Monitoring Program in Shenandoah National Park started in 2000 when the Park partnered with the Center for Conservation Biology at William & Mary and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to boost peregrine populations in the mountains of Virginia. Recovery in the central and southern Appalachians has been very slow over the past 13 years, reaching only one-third of the goal set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The reintroduction program involves taking young falcons from nests in coastal Virginia, where young birds often fledged prematurely over open water and drowned. The fledglings are put in a wooden box, which is placed on a high cliff ledge that mimics a natural peregrine falcon nest site. The boxes are constructed so that the young birds can view and acclimate to their environment as they mature, but are protected from predators, such as raccoons and owls. While they are in the boxes, park staff feed and care for the chicks, and monitor their condition, keeping contact with humans to a minimum. When the falcons are ready for flight, the boxes are opened and the falcons are allowed to leave. Park staff continue to feed and monitor the fledglings as they learn to hunt for themselves. The idea is that, once on their own, the birds will choose to return to the park the following spring to raise young of their own, thus creating a sustained breeding population. To ensure the safety of the young falcons, the area of the nest site is not advertised to the public and the area around it is sometimes closed to visitors.
Last year [2005] in the Park, not too far from Rappahannock County's borders, the Park's Natural Resources staff documented that a banded male identified as having been released in the Park in 2003 as part of the reintroduction program successfully nested in the Park with a young unbanded female. The pair produced one female young, which successfully fledged in early July. This pair represents only the second documented successful nesting of peregrines in the mountains of Virginia since the 1950s and 1960s. The first documented pair since the DDT era nested in the park from 1994 until 1998 and fledged eight young. Read an April 2006 update about the nesting pair by clicking here. Want to know more about this magnificent bird and efforts being made to bring it back to our area? For more on recovery and management of peregrine falcons in Virginia, go to www.dgif.state.va.us/wildlife/falcontrak/recovery.html. For ongoing information on the Task Force, its programs, and peregrine falcons, visit this website, call Pam Owen at 540-675-9989, or send an e-mail to Biodiversity@RLEP.org.
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