Young peregrines are everywhere in North Jersey Thursday, September 12, 2013
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
Along the Hackensack River from Little Ferry to Lyndhurst, call it "The Summer of the Peregrine."
MIKE GIRONE This young banded peregrine falcon is one of several that have been hunting by the Hackensack River this summer.
Not only have these dynamic falcons nested in at least two locales along the river, but so many have been seen so often in so many other places that it is hard to believe they were extinct east of the Mississippi a half-century ago. Three of the umpteen Bergen County sightings involved young peregrines with identification bands on their legs. Thanks to digital cameras with high-powered lenses, birders were able to read the numbers and letters on the bands — and find out where the birds came from.
In mid-July, a young banded peregrine was photographed on a radio antenna in Carlstadt. It had been banded as a nestling on the Bayonne Bridge on May 29. * In early August, a young banded peregrine was photographed atop an office building on Polito Avenue in Lyndhurst. It had been banded as a nestling atop an office building in Reading, Pa., on May 31.
In late August, a young banded peregrine was photographed on an electrical transmission tower in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. It had been banded as a nestling on an Atlantic City water tower in June.
What should we make of all these peregrinating young peregrines? I decided to ask an expert, Kathy Clark, supervisory zoologist with the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. She oversees peregrine-banding for the state, which included monitoring 26 nesting pairs last year.
Q. Are peregrine populations rebounding that dramatically?
I think they are doing well, but the drama has been slow to build up. In the last couple of years, they seem to have taken hold in cities, leading to these post-fledging concentrations with juveniles hanging out and probably learning from each other. There are definitely nesting peregrines we don't know about (evidenced by more birds that are not banded), and those tend to be in cities where there are a lot of potential nesting sites that are hard to detect. Birds are taking advantage of ledges wherever they exist — like old buildings and nearly all bridges.
Q. Why are we seeing so many peregrines — young and adult, banded and unbanded — along the Hackensack River this summer?
The convergence is probably related to the concentrations of prey species, like shorebirds and other flocking birds — and perhaps a lot of nesting peregrines associated with the Hackensack, Passaic and Hudson rivers and bridges.
Q. What happens come autumn — do they migrate, and if so, to where? Resightings and recaptures of peregrines suggest that the first-year birds do migrate south.
They get recaptured at hawk-banding stations in Cape May and Cape Charles [in Virginia], among other sites. The migration pathway is generally along the Atlantic Coast for eastern birds. The more northern-nesting peregrines (from nests in the Canadian Arctic and Canadian Maritimes) tend to migrate farther south — to South America — whereas mid-Atlantic young peregrines probably migrate only to the southeastern U.S. Adults tend to remain in their nesting areas year-round.
Q. Just how remarkable — and fulfilling — is it for you to see this rebound?
It's one of the great success stories. Imagine no nesting peregrines — zero — in the eastern U.S. in the early 1960s. And now we can see them just about anywhere in New Jersey, including (and maybe especially) our cities. My only caution comes from the inconsistency in successful nesting in their historic cliff habitat. But they are doing so well in urban areas that I have to hope they will overcome other difficulties.
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