Baby falcons hatched on Throgs Neck Bridge

From CBS New York:

A dozen new peregrine falcon chicks have been born atop the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and the Throgs Neck Bridge, the agency said.

The falcons remain on the New York State’s endangered birds list.

The MTA has participated in the state’s nesting program since 1983, providing a nesting box atop the bridges, the agency said.

Babies on the bridge

From CBS New York:

Six peregrine falcon chicks, hatched last month high atop two MTA bridges, were recently banded as part of the state nesting program, and now you can see them.

Three chicks were born at Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and three at Throgs Neck Bridge.

This year marks the 30th year of participation by MTA Bridges and Tunnels in the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s nesting program, which began in New York City in 1983.

New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Wildlife Studies Division Specialist Chris Nadareski coordinates the program in the city, climbing high atop various buildings and bridges each year to band and record the falcons.

The newest MTA peregrines include two males and a female at Marine Parkway Bridge and two females and a male at the Throgs Neck Bridge.

Baby banding on the bridges

Endangered birds banded on the bridge

Falcons could be used to curb geese at LGA

From the Daily News:

Airports try lots of things in the endless battle to keep birds from the runway, but nothing beats a fast-moving falcon - with its razor-sharp talons, experts say.

"It is the best tool that we have available to us," said Andrew Barnes, a veteran falconer in charge of clearing birds from the runways of McGuire Air Force Base in central New Jersey.

The Port Authority has a five-year, $3 million contract with the company to do falconry at Kennedy Airport, where a state-of-the-art bird-detection radar system is set to be deployed under a deal with the Federal Aviation Administration.

While falconry has been used at JFK for about a decade, it is not used at LaGuardia, PA spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said.

Barnes, who used falconry at JFK, said bird mitigation efforts without falconry are a "losing battle."

Barnes argued that falconry is effective against all bird species except other raptors and turkey vultures.

Steve Garber, a wildlife biologist who formerly ran the bird-mitigation program at JFK and LaGuardia, agreed with Barnes. "When done effectively, as part of a really good program, [falconry] makes everything far more effective," said Garber, who introduced falconry at Kennedy in the 1990s. "The falcons were scaring off far more than just gulls."