Virginia Peregrine Falcon 2014 Update
By Libby Mojica
link to story here -
http://www.ccbbirds.org/2015/01/13/virginia-peregrine-falcon-2014-update/
Virginia's Peregrine Falcon population continued to thrive in 2014 with 27
known breeding pairs producing 44 chicks. Virginia's falcon population is
predominantly on the coastal plain with 24 breeding pairs on the coast
including 10 peregrine towers, 1 ground nest, 8 bridges, 1 Coast Guard
navigation tower, 2 fishing shacks, 1 power plant stack, and 1 high-rise
building. The population in the western part of the state remains small with
only 3 pairs nesting on rock cliffs. The stronghold of the Virginia population
continues to nest on man-made structures requiring regular maintenance and
management from The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) and the project's
many conservation partners.
The Peregrine Falcon was extirpated as a breeding species in Virginia by the
1960s in part because of nesting failures related to DDT. Many decades of
reintroduction efforts by CCB, Cornell University, Virginia Department of Game
and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), and the National Park Service, have brought the
breeding population back to pre-DDT levels. The Peregrine Falcon is listed as
a threatened species in Virginia and continues to struggle with low fledging
survival from bridge nests and threats from new emerging contaminants.
In 2014, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) managed disturbance
buffers for 5 occupied falcon nests and coordinated extraction of the chicks
for hacking. This effort required close coordination with VDOT bridge, traffic,
and environmental staff to pull off accessing the nests with minimal impact to
vehicle and boat traffic. The CCB continues to lead a 15-year partnership with
Shenandoah National Park, VDGIF, and VDOT to translocate falcon chicks from
bridges to the mountains to increase survival rates. Shenandoah biologists and
interns released 9 falcons at Hogback Mountain through the hacking program,
furthering reintroduction of falcons back into the Virginia mountains.
We continued our band resighting program for adult falcons using a digital game
camera mounted at the entrance of the nest box. Fourteen breeding adults were
identified, including 4 from New Jersey and 1 from New York. One of our newest
pairs at the Silver Beach Range Tower is a mix of origins, with the female from
Sea Isle city, NJ (212 km away), and the male from Gull Marsh, VA (19 km away).
Often we have to review hundreds of images from the game camera to read the
alphanumerics on the bands, piecing together the identity of the bird one image
at a time.
For the second year in a row, a pair of falcons nested on the ground on a sand
dune on a barrier island. This is a rare occurrence and noteworthy for the
species in our part of the species' range. Unfortunately the pair was
unsuccessful this year because of extreme heat and no shade protection for the
nest and nestlings.
Project Partners: The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Park Service, United
States Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia Department of Transportation, The
Nature Conservancy, Dominion Power, and United States Coast Guard.
Michael Wilson
Center for Conservation Biology
College of William and Mary & Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
phone: 757-221-1649
fax: 757-221-1650
email: mdwils@xxxxxx
web: www.ccbbirds.org
