Friends,
Having a friend who is a falconer, I was interested to learn that not only
is Miss USA from my hometown, Lawrence, Massachusetts, but also the comeback of
falcons includes my hometown.
The textile mills in Lawrence, along the banks of the Merrimac River, which
is cleaner than when I lived there, certainly, make a great place for a nest,
as described below. If anyone is traveling to see the falcons in Quincy or at
the Customs House in Boston, it is about 26 miles out to see the latest pair:
LAWRENCE -- On an old air conditioner platform four stories above the city, a
pair of the fastest creatures in the world are raising a family.
Two rare peregrine falcons are making their home on the tiny platform that juts
out from a mill building in downtown Lawrence. They have been raising three
chicks -- evidence that the endangered species known as the world's fastest
bird is making a comeback in Massachusetts, said wildlife experts.
The progress owes, in part, to a state program where trackers attach
identification bands to the birds, helping environmental officials keep track
of them as they fly across the country.
"One of most important parts of the restoration effort is to identify these
individuals," said Thomas French, assistant director of the state Division of
Fisheries and Wildlife. "If we didn't, we wouldn't know where they are going.
We wouldn't know what works and what doesn't work in the restoration effort."
That effort involves trackers determining where the birds thrive, and where
they get sick or have other problems and then moving some captive members to
the healthy areas where they can breed. Trackers also study places where the
birds get sick or die to determine possible environmental problems.
"We've gone from one nest in 1987 to a very slow increase until the number
started to shoot up. Now we have 10 nesting pairs," he said. "We have them on
our skyscrapers. There's a pair in the Customs House in Boston. There's a pair
at the Christian Science building in Boston. There's a pair nesting on the
Goliath Crane in Quincy."
French came up from Boston this week to attach identification bands to the legs
of the young birds on the Lawrence building and rebuild their precarious perch.
Plywood panels were pulled from the windows and a chorus of screeching greeted
French's gloved hand as he pulled the chicks inside the building.
The mother quickly attacked, but French soon had her banded and subdued in a
canvas bag while co-workers fashioned a new nest out of plywood and metal
angle-iron.
Peregrines usually make a nest out of whatever materials and flat surface they
can find. While French's disruption clearly upset the birds, he said they get
over disturbances quickly. Normally, the banding process is less traumatic but
French was concerned the existing nest would be dangerous when the chicks start
learning to fly.
"If we don't have a secure place for the chicks they are going to fall off and
die," said French. "When we leave here ... we're going to make sure that they
are better off."
Peregrine falcons, never common in the United States, were listed federally as
an endangered species for years after the pesticide DDT killed off all of those
birds east of the Mississippi River by the mid-1960s. The pesticide severely
weakened the shells of the eggs laid by the birds, so the eggs broke before
hatching.
The chemical was banned in the late 1960s after experts discovered that
ospreys, eagles and hawks were disappearing with the falcons. An aggressive
breeding program has restored the peregrine to much of the country but they are
still on the Massachusetts list of endangered species. It is French's job to
get them off the list.
Experts keep track of the birds by "banding" them, -- attaching tags to their
legs that identify them, including a colored tag that can be seen from a
distance and tells observers where the bird has been.
As the birds' population has grown throughout Massachusetts, French has
followed their wanderings with a little help from friends. In the Lawrence
case, local amateur bird watcher Joseph Hogan noticed one of the peregrines
circling overhead and he called French.
"I saw the bird and saw it was brown so I knew it was different," Hogan said as
he watched French work. "Then I saw that there were two of them (the birds) so
I knew they were up to something."
With the help of Hogan and others throughout the northeast, officials in
Massachusetts and other states are able to track the birds from birth to death.
When banded birds turn up dead, they are also more likely to be given to
officials who can learn what killed them.
"The biggest cause of death in peregrines is flying into glass," said French.
This year the 10 nesting pairs have so far produced 11 chicks. Some of the
nests produce none. Others, like the Lawrence nest, produced three. There are
other eggs yet to hatch, but the peregrine is still a species struggling in
Massachusetts.
"We're still in the restoration process," said French. "What I've been doing
has helped, but what people all over the country have been doing has also
helped."
This also reminds me to check the Richmond site for new developments..
Ellen O'Donohue
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