The newest baby peregrine falcons to join the nest specially built above the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge have been successfully hatched and returned to their home with views of the city skyline.
These feathery hatchlings were recently banded for wildlife monitoring, as the whole nest is watched over by NYC’s Department on Environmental Protection and the MTA.
On Thursday, the transportation agency announced that three healthy peregrine falcon chicks had been hatched and joined their falcon mom in their nesting box on top of the 693-foot Brooklyn Tower of the Verrazano.
Every year, around the end of May, research scientist Chris Nadareski, of the NYC DEP, climbs to the top of the bridge and puts identifying bands on the falcon chicks. This helps wildlife researchers to keep track of the number of peregrines in the city and identify them in case they become sick or injured. MTA Bridges and Tunnels has been a part of the nesting program since 1983.
This year’s bandings took place on May 24th when the falcon chicks reached about three weeks old.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels provides a nesting box for the falcons both on the Verrazano and the Mario Cuomo bridges, but otherwise leaves the birds alone, especially during nesting season. Falcons mate for life and usually return to the same nest to hatch their young, the agency reported.
The MTA also noted that the banding process is performed in accordance with agency procedures and causes no harm to the birds.
Metropolitan falcons are known for establishing nests atop bridges, church steeples, and high-rise buildings, as they provide a convenient vantage position for hunting their prey, which includes pigeons and small birds.
The three newest chicks hatched just over a week after four other peregrine falcons hatched on top of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, and people took to social media to vote on potential names for the birds, with one of the most popular being “Beakoncé.”
As a result of pesticides in their food supply, peregrine falcons nearly went extinct by the 1960s, and they still remain on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s endangered birds list.
Due to their endangered status, environmental and public organizations have long made efforts to track and protect the species in nests around the state.
