Falcon chicks found on Bridge

After more than 20 years of “empty nest syndrome,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) workers at the Throgs Neck Bridge made an important discovery recently. The Queens tower of the bridge is home to four nesting Peregrine falcon chicks.
On Wednesday, May 23, Chris Nadareski made the long climb to a nesting box at the top of the 360-foot high tower, to examine and tag the newborn falcons.
Nadareski, a wildlife studies expert for the City’s Department of Environmental Protection (EPA), found the four to be healthy females. As far as he can tell, they are three-weeks-old and growing steadily.
When informed of the birds’ gender, Bridge General Manager Ed Wallace quipped, “Thank goodness I don’t have to pay for these weddings.”
This is the second set of falcon chicks to be hatched at the bridge. The first, from a different nesting pair, were born in the 1980s. According to Nadareski, there are a total of 16 Peregrine falcon couples living in New York City atop bridges, church steeples and high-rise buildings.
MTA personnel work closely with the EPA on such efforts as tagging, and avoid any work near nests during the falcons’ mating season. Peregrine falcons were listed as an endangered species until 1999, and have been making a comeback, even in New York City.
“It is not unusual for falcons to choose bridges to build their nests,” Nadareski said, “since they historically live on high cliffs where they can watch for prey and have plenty of open space to hunt.”
Another set of four chicks were hatched atop the Brooklyn tower of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in early May. Soon, Nadareski will be examining and tagging them, too.
This is not a job for the faint-of-heart. At nearly 700 feet, the tower in Brooklyn is almost twice as high as those of the Throgs Neck Bridge.