Ben Wurst, Conserve Wildlife Foundation Biologist, with peregrine falcon.
The peregrine falcon’s New Jersey comeback story continued in 2019. The number of young produced rose slightly to 78 in 2019, as compared to 75 in 2018. The adult population was slightly lower at 38 known pairs, as compared to 40 known pairs in 2018.
Peregrine falcon populations had plummeted across much of the United States due to widespread use of the pesticide DDT before it was banned in 1972. Since the early 1980’s, peregrine falcons have been recovering at a slow but steady pace in New Jersey. While population numbers continue to increase, peregrine falcons still face a number of serious threats in New Jersey, particularly contaminants like pesticides, PCBs, and heavy metals in the food web.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) and our partner New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) recently released the 2019 New Jersey Peregrine Falcon Research and Management Program Report highlighting the continued recovery of the peregrine falcon in New Jersey.
The breeding season started off well enough for the peregrine
family that star on our Falcon Cam in Jersey City this year. Four eggs were
laid, three sisters hatched, were banded and were growing up high atop the
skyscraper at 101 Hudson Street. Thousands of viewers enjoyed seeing them
flapping and jumping, strengthening their flight muscles for their first flight
to fledge from the nest.
Two sets of peregrine falcon chicks were recently banded high atop buildings in Elizabeth, Union County, and Jersey City. Biologists from Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) checked the health and measurements of the falcons, while also placing both United States Geological Service bird bands and state auxiliary bands so the birds can be identified in the future.
Top: Duke Farms Eagle protects two eggs that are expected to hatch soon. Photo credit Conserve Wildlife Foundation. Bottom: Peregrine Falcons in Union County exhibit mating behavior. Photo credit Union County.
A pair of American Eagles tend to their nest atop an 80-foot Sycamore tree at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, days away from the hatching of two eggs, while the courtship season has begun for a female peregrine falcon nesting on the roof of the historic 17-story Union County Courthouse in downtown Elizabeth.
The predators have achieved “rock star” status in classrooms and homes across the state and the country thanks to video cameras that have been installed on trees and within the nests of the birds by wildlife biologists, with live feeds available online.
Story by: Union County Office of Public Information
Union County’s free Falcon Cam captures the view inside the nest of two peregrine falcons on the roof of the County Courthouse Tower in midtown Elizabeth. This screenshot shows bonding behavior as the newly installed female (left)and the male get acquainted and prepare to start a family. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Union County
As the courtship season begins for peregrine falcons, residents of all ages and visitors from all over the world can observe and study one of the fastest animals on earth by tuning in to the Union County Falcon Cam. “The Falcon Cam is a great opportunity for residents of all ages to experience and learn about peregrine falcons up close,” said Freeholder Chair Bette Jane Kowalski. “This season we have a new female falcon, who has taken over the territory on the roof of the Union County Court House.”
Union County’s falcon preservation efforts have been undertaken with the generous assistance of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. Conserve Wildlife Foundation is Union County’s official partner for educational programming related to falcons and the Falcon Cam.
…Let’s set aside a few minutes, shall we, and behold all the big birds and their continued resurgence in the Garden State.
Editorial by the (Bergen) Record / NorthJersey.com
Peregrine falcons have nested in Jersey City since 2000. photo by Ben Wurst
Exhibit One is the peregrine falcon, which in its swooping dive can reach speeds of 240 mph, and whose remarkable comeback was charted by NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey environmental reporter Scott Fallon. He wrote of how state researchers and wildlife advocates had documented a record 40 nesting pairs in 2018, a near-miraculous feat considering the species had been all but left for dead in New Jersey beginning in the 1960s….
“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.”
A peregrine falcon chick is shown after it was removed from its nest for banding.
Several scientists, protected by the curious combination of an umbrella, a duster and a hard hat, scrambled across the roof of a Jersey City high-rise this week to fend off the fierce attack of two adult peregrine falcons.
The scientists were there to briefly retrieve three falcon chicks from a nest box 42 floors above the city streets, so they could weigh, measure and band the birds before returning them.
The three chicks, still covered in fluffy white down, are the latest additions to a growing population in New Jersey of the world’s fastest animal.
Earlier this week we visited two urban falcon eyries to band young for future tracking. Both bandings were streamed live on our Facebook page. Here at the Elizabeth eyrie, BD/73 showed us who rules the roost! We have a feeling that we’ll be seeing her again sometime in the future!
