West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Peregrine Falcons

The fastest birds of prey get a new start in the New River Gorge

July 22, 2009
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

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Folks with the 3 Rivers Avian Center are excited to be out here on the New River Gorge-they're checking out some of the peregrine falcons about to take off into the wild. It's all part of a long range plan to get these beautiful hunters back into West Virginia naturally.

"We're in year four of a five year project trying to re-establish peregrine falcons in the New River Gorge. This time we have 17 birds going out at Grandview. They are flying around, doing great. Last year we were able to release 23, the year before we were able to release 24, the year before that was 16." says Wendy Perrone of the Three Rivers Avian Center.

The researchers have put about 80 of these birds back into the wild during the project, but, unfortunately, none have come back and successfully raised chicks here.

"This is a project that the DNR could not have pulled off by ourselves, we just don't have the people and we're not stationed close enough to the site, but we've been very fortunate to have Three Rivers Avian Center that was able to take the lead on this last year and this year, they've run the show." says Craig Stihler, a WV DNR biologist who leads the study.

"We did have a pair come back and establish a nest site, but that didn't work out, so we are hoping that, eventually, we get a pair that wants to stay here." says Perrone.

These birds are wanderers by nature. Wendy says one pair released last year made it from West Virginia to Canada and back to Mobile, Alabama in just a matter of months. The key is to get these little chicks to feel like West Virginia is home.

"The process of hacking goes way back in history. The birds that we receive are 3-4 weeks old and they all came from nests, primarily in Virginia, that are in danger. The nest itself was in a bad location and the chicks hatch out and they are in danger of drowning because they are right over a river or they end up getting hit by a car because they are near a highway." says Perrone.

So the chicks are put in nesting boxes which are gradually opened up to allow them to test their wings. They teach themselves to hunt and eventually take off. Hopefully, some of them will come back, make their home here and raise their young. For West Virginia Widlife, I'm Patirck McMurtry, Eyewitness News