Forget the coffee mugs and baseball caps — these new dads would prefer some fat pigeons and ducks for Father’s Day.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is celebrating a pair of new peregrine falcon fathers who have been caring for the recently hatched chicks nesting atop the George Washington and Bayonne bridges.
The proud peregrine papa
The Port Authority, in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, said it has been fostering safe nesting areas above the two bridges for about 30 years — and monitoring the new hatchlings has become a favorite pastime of the city’s birding community.
The bridges offer a similar vibe to the cliffside habitat the falcons prefer, according to the Port, and these dads are no deadbeats: They’ve been hunting food and watching over their nests since the chicks were born.
The falcons are considered apex predators as they don’t have many natural predators of their own. According to the Audubon Society the birds have a 1 meter wingspan and can travel as fast as 200 mph. They hunt mostly other birds, from songbirds to geese.
NYC Department of Environmental Protection scientist Chris Nadareski bands some young peregrines at the foot of the Bayonne Bridge.
Courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
DEP scientists recently banded the falcon chicks, as they’ve been doing for years, to monitor the health of the city’s peregrines, which are still listed as an endangered species.
The annual return of the falcons, high above the Hudson and the Kill Van Kull, is a sign of “ecological resilience,” the authority said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
