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Adult Female Peregrine at
Franconia Notch nest defends
her single downy chick.
Photo by Paul Cormier
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Continuing a quarter-century-long journey of recovery from the disastrous effects of pesticides in their diet, New Hampshire's state-listed endangered Peregrine Falcon population set several new productivity records during the 2002 breeding season. This year in the Granite State, biologists and volunteers surveyed a total of 44 potential Peregrine Falcon nesting cliffs. We discovered one new falcon pair breeding in the White Mountain National Forest at Russell Crag. We confirmed a post-DDT-era record-high of 14 occupied breeding territories. Peregrine breeding pairs incubated eggs at all 14 of these sites, and nine pairs successfully fledged a total of 27 young, which surpasses the previous high mark of 25 young produced in the state in both 1999 and 2000.
Since 1981, when falcons once again began breeding in New Hampshire after an absence of several decades, a total of 234 wild-hatched young have been produced, including 115 during just the past five years. Over the past two decades, nesting pairs have raised an average of 1.63 young/attempt with a success rate of 68%, but over the past five years, they have raised a much higher 2.09 young/attempt with a success rate of 80%!
(See Chart)
Manchester's excitement continues
Northern New England's only urban-nesting peregrines, located in downtown Manchester at the New Hampshire Tower building, raised three fledglings in 2002, but one of their young, wearing leg band "black/green 4/6," had an especially rough start as she began to navigate the not-so-wide-open spaces beyond her nest box in mid-June. One of her initial flights, on June 13, ended suddenly when she struck the windshield of a passing car. Audubon falcon-watching volunteer Rita Tulloh immediately came to the aid of this stunned bird, scooping her up off the street. After spending a quiet night under observation at Wings of Dawn wildlife clinic in Henniker, we released her back on the roof of the New Hampshire Tower.
Falconer Nancy Cowan
about to release "Crash,"
for flying practice.
Photo by Chris Martin
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In the following week, however, it became quite clear that "Crash," as she soon became known, was injured and could not fly like her siblings. Using a large fishing net, we recaptured her from the roof on June 20 and transported her to Tufts Wildlife Clinic in Massachusetts, where she had several broken bones in her shoulder reset before spending five more weeks healing. To make up for lost experience during her hospital stay, licensed falconers Nancy and Jim Cowan volunteered to provide Crash with a nine-week skill-building course in falcon flying and hunting. On October 1, Nancy released a much stronger Crash back to the wild in Deering. We all thank Nancy and Jim for their incredible effort on behalf of New Hampshire's wild peregrines and hope that someday soon we will relocate Crash, perhaps at a breeding territory somewhere in New England.
Why visit nests and band chicks?
Peregrine Chick
at Rattlesnake
Mountain nest
after banding.
Photo by Chris Martin
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An extremely dedicated group of rock climbers and professional climbing guides continues to help Audubon and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists access most of the state's peregrine nests. In 2002, biologists managed to visit 13 of the state's 14 nests, examine and band all 27 nestlings, and recover eight eggs that failed to hatch. Over the long-term, in the past two decades, Audubon has facilitated a total of 119 separate climbs and worked with 30 individual climbers, placing leg bands on a total of 200 chicks and retrieving 80 unhatched peregrine eggs for shell-thickness and chemical content analyses. In the past ten years, we have banded a remarkable 96% (172 of 179) of the state's peregrine fledglings. In 2002, 54% (15 of 28) of New Hampshire's territorial adult peregrines were known to be color-banded, and we were able to positively identify six of these.
(See Table) Over 16% (33 of 200) of the young falcons banded in New Hampshire since 1981 have eventually been seen again, giving wildlife managers valuable data on the longevity of individuals and on overall population dispersal patterns.
Thanks to our many partners
Audubon's Peregrine Falcon monitoring and management project, which is carried out as part of a comprehensive wildlife monitoring contract with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, would not happen without the sizable donations of time and talent that we receive from many other agencies and individuals. Special thanks go to all of our volunteer observers scattered across the state and to Audubon's seasonal biologist and "falcon ambassador," Robert Vallieres. Thanks to the expert climbing guides at International Mountain Climbing School and to several other individual rock climbers who helped us this year. Finally, thanks to friends and colleagues at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, New Hampshire Division of Parks, and at Tower Realty in Manchester for their support and assistance.
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