!!! From The Buffalo News

June 21, 2009 - International, National and Local News

Frank Butson Reports:

Wayward peregrine falcon chick leads to discovery of another nest

Bird fanciers hail peregrine discovery as feather in their cap

A peregrine falcon chick that ended up on a barge in the Niagara River led to the discovery of a fourth nest — and another family of five — in this area. “It’s getting crowded in Peregrineville,” Joel Thomas, wildlife administrator for the Erie County SPCA, said Friday. That discovery is another feather in the cap of bird enthusiasts and wildlife experts who have watched three diminished species of raptors — the peregrine, bald eagle and osprey — begin returning to Western New York.

“We are thrilled with the discovery of another pair of nesting peregrine falcons in this area,” said Connie Adams, a senior wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. “The presence of this new nesting pair is tremendous evidence of this species’ comeback and reaffirms the success of restoration efforts.”

“That bird has made an incredible comeback,” Thomas agreed.

Crews doing maintenance work on the South Grand Island Bridge found a chick on their barge last week and took it to the SPCA to be checked out. Initially, wildlife authorities assumed it was the offspring of peregrines nesting in a man-made box on the north bridge.

But after questioning the crews, authorities learned there was a natural nest — concrete rubble on a girder below the bridge deck. The location is ideal, Adams said.

“It’s incredibly protected from the elements. It’s protected from predators — aerial and ground predators,” Adams said. “But the first step is a doozy.”

Once the chick, a male, got a clean bill of health, Thomas and Adams returned it to its nest, which also contained two female chicks. Female peregrines typically are larger, and, in this case, they were twice the size of the male, Adams said.

Just hours later, the same male chick was spotted splashing around near the riverbank.

“When he fell the second time I thought, ‘They are pushing him out,’ ” Adams said. Most likely the reason is competition for food.

As a result, the male chick is being cared for at the SPCA until next week, when it will be transferred to a wildlife rehabilitation facility until it can survive on its own.

The region is home to six known pairs of peregrine falcons, which have produced 13 chicks this year. According to the DEC, the Buffalo area has the largest urban peregrine falcon population in upstate New York.

Other known nests are at the University at Buffalo South Campus and Statler Towers in downtown Buffalo, both of which are manmade. Another pair of falcons often is seen in the Niagara Gorge.

Peregrine falcons still are on the state’s endangered list, after the effects of pesticides virtually wiped them out in the Eastern United States in the 1960s. Last year, there were 67 territorial pairs documented statewide, according to the DEC.

“We would have to be able to document certainly more than 67 pair, which is not enough to make you feel secure,” Adams said.

The national endangered designation was lifted in 1999.

While the DEC, like wildlife agencies nationwide, bands chicks to monitor their movements, the mother of the South Grand Island Bridge brood doesn’t have one. It may be that she was born in a nest that wasn’t accessible to wildlife authorities, Adams said.

Cliff-dwellers, peregrine falcons once nested predominantly in the state’s mountain ranges. Now they roost in what Thomas described as “21st century” nesting grounds: high-rise buildings and bridges.

“They are actually quite common now, which is a good thing,” Thomas said.

The peregrine falcon is enjoying a rebirth in Western New York, but it is not alone. The area also has seen a return of ospreys with nests on Grand Island and Town of Tonawanda.

And bald eagles, which were so close to being extinct in New York in the 1970s that state officials asked that any sighting be reported and documented, are routinely seen south of Buffalo.

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