Falcons doing well in Pa., Ohio
State wildlife biologists in Pennsylvania are excited by the recent discovery of a peregrine falcon pair nesting in a natural rock outcropping in the Northcentral part of the state.
Discovered by a hunter during the state's spring wild turkey season, the nesting pair was spotted on a cliff in north central Pennsylvania overlooking the west branch of the Susquehanna River, state game officials reported.
The discovery is the first time in more than 40 years that the raptors were found in the wild in the Keystone State, the biologists said in a report on the birds.
Like eagles, osprey and other raptors, the peregrine falcon was adversely affected by the widespread use of DDT and other pesticides during the past century.
All but doomed
Their situation had become so bleak by the 1960s that some experts said the bird was all but doomed to extinction.
Prohibitions on the use of these pesticides and help from game departments in Pennsylvania and many other states including Ohio has helped the peregrine return in a big way.
The nesting falcons were confirmed by Pennsylvania Game Commission biologist Dan Brauning. He conducted a follow-up visit to the new nesting site and made the first banding of a peregrine chick hatched outside of a major Pennsylvania city since 1957.
Another surprise for the biologists is that it appeared that the peregrines have been using this cliff site since June 1999. Previously, the site had not been used by the birds since before World War II.
Biologists also said that one of the two birds at the cliff site is banded and that they have hopes to read the band and find out where the bird came from.
"It'll be interesting to see if it's one of the peregrines that was hacked in Williamsport during our reintroduction efforts there in the 1990s," Brauning said.
Pennsylvania's peregrine efforts have seen the birds at such varied locations as the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, other bridges in the greater Philadelphia area, as well as buildings in Allentown, Harrisburg, Reading and Williamsport.
Reintroduction efforts were confined to cities, PGC officials explained, because a wild reintroduction program was hampered when great horned owls grabbed young peregrines in the late 1970s.
Ohio falcons
This year in Ohio, there were 15 sites reported across the state identified with nesting peregrine falcon pairs, according to information from theDivision of Wildlife.
In 2002 DOW officials recorded 12 falcon pairs that produced 37 fledglings.
There have been successful peregrine nests in Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Ironton and Toledo. The birds have also been spotted in various other sites around the state, the DOW reported, including Cleves, Lima, Lebanon, Aberdeen, Hamilton and Edgewater.
The state encourages people who see peregrines to report the location and, if readable, their leg band color and numbers to an Ohio Department of National Wildlife DOW district office at (330) 644-2293.
It would be nice to have a peregrine pair in the greater Youngstown area. We have a few tall buildings that might be sufficient peregrine falcon habitat, and we certainly have a large enough pigeon population as a ready food source.
Who knows, maybe the attractive and speedy birds will one day find the Home Savings or Sky Bank buildings in downtown Youngstown the perfect home.
braun@vindy.com