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Falcons
From Page A7
involves taking young falcons from nests in coastal Virginia, where young birds often fledged prematurely over open water and drowned. The fledglings are put in a wooden box, which is placed on a high cliff ledge that mimics a natural peregrine falcon nest site. The boxes are constructed so that the young birds can view and acclimate to their environment as they mature, but are protected from predators, such as raccoons and owls.
While they are in the boxes, park staff feed and care for the chicks, and monitor their condition, keeping contact with humans to a minimum. When the falcons are ready for flight, the boxes are opened and the falcons are allowed to leave. Park staff continue to feed and monitor the fledglings as they learn to hunt for themselves. The idea is that, once on their own, the birds will choose to return to the park the following spring to raise young of their own, thus creating a sustained breeding population. Tb ensure the safety of the young falcons, the area of the nest site is not advertised to the public and the area around it is sometimes closed to visitors.
Last year in the park, not too far from Rappahannock County’s borders, the park’s Natural Resources staff documented that a banded male
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