Falcon on LBI bridge perishes, but peregrines’ progress continues

“Northside Jim” Verhagen regularly monitors the peregrine falcon family that resides in and around a new nesting platform in the marsh to the south of the eastbound stretch of the Dorland J. Henderson Bridge. Early last week, after the sole fledgling, named Blue Bonnet, was found dead on the roadway there, he believes her parents, Bridgeboy and Jo Durt, demonstrated mourning. “They do a certain call,” said Verhagen. “Jo Durt landed on the pier with her mate, which is very unusual.”

Despite the young peregrine’s death, as Ben Wurst, habitat program manager for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, pointed out, “This is still kind of a success story.”