Back to Peregrines in New Hampshire

About Peregrine Falcons

Falco peregrinus.

Photo by Chris Martin/ASNH

Peregrines are hunters of open country and are most famous for their unbelievable speed and agility in flight. They capture their prey, birds, bats, and dragonflies, in mid-air, often surprising their victims by diving down upon it, called stooping, from great heights, striking the prey with closed feet and plucking the prey from the air with sharp talons.

A Peregrine dives for prey.

Photo by Mark Suomala/ASNH

Peregrines are relatively long-lived and territorial, especially during the breeding season. They defend their chosen nest sites year after year and often breed with the same mate for many years. For nesting sites, peregrines typically select sheltered horizontal ledges located on prominent cliffs, tall buildings, or major bridges. These tall structures limit the ability of potential predators to access nests to prey upon unhatched eggs or young chicks. They usually lay 3-4 eggs, and the young hatch after five weeks of constant incubation by both adults. Six weeks after the chicks first hatch the fledglings begin to make their first awkward flights, although they remain largely dependent on their parents to provide them with food until they refine their own flight and hunting skills.

A Typical Peregrine Nest Site.

Photo by Chris Martin/ASNH

Sixty years ago, prior to widespread use of the pesticide DDT, there were an estimated minimum of 350 pairs of American peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus anatum) occupied cliffs in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains, including roughly 60-75 pairs in northern New England and New York's Adirondack Mountains. As contamination in their avian prey increased, female peregrines began laying thin-shelled eggs that had little prospect of hatching. The total reproductive failure that followed led to a catastrophic population decline. A 1964 survey of 133 formerly active nest sites in the eastern U.S. and in the Canadian Maritime region found that not one traditional territory still hosted a pair. In a mere 20 years, the peregrine had been eliminated as a breeding species across the entire eastern U.S. It was officially listed as federally endangered in 1970.

One healthy chick, three infertile eggs.

Photo by Chris Martin/ASNH

A remarkable cooperative effort, spanning more than 30 years, has at last restored this elegant raptor to its once-vacant breeding range. No other endangered species recovery program in North America has ever involved a broader geographic scale or incorporated a wider array of federal and state agencies, private conservation groups, and concerned citizens. DDT use was banned in the U.S. in 1972. The Peregrine Fund, with much help from private falconers, had, by 1975, refined the techniques needed to produce large numbers of young falcons in captivity and reintroduce them to the wild through a process called "hacking." A total of 98 young falcons were released at two New Hampshire sites, Owls Head and Square Mountain, between 1976 and 1987. Across North America, more than 6200 peregrines were released into the wild since 1974.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally declared the removal of the American peregrine falcon from the federal Endangered Species List in August, 1999, an action that capped a 30 year, multi-million dollar effort to rescue the world's fastest bird from continent-wide elimination. The final delisting decision includes a requirement that a nationwide plan be implemented to monitor a sample of the breeding population monitoring every third year, beginning in 2003 and continuing until 2015. Removal from the national list does not necessarily trigger reclassification on various state lists and, for the time being, the peregrine will remain listed as endangered in New Hampshire and in neighboring states of Maine and Vermont.