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Vets Give Checkup To Cathedral Of Learning Falcons

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May 26, 2009 11:56 am US/Eastern

Vets Give Checkup To Cathedral Of Learning Falcons

  Peregrine Falcon chicks may now have a fighting chance of survival as the National Aviary tracks these predator birds.

"We put bands on these birds so we can identify where they go and what they do in their lives," said Dr. Todd Katzner, of the National Aviary. "And that type of monitoring is really critical for conservation."

The Cathedral of Learning is the second nest in the city.

The other, which is in the Gulf Tower, was checked out two weeks ago.

Four chicks, three girls and one boy, were hatched on the Pitt campus.

All of the newborns passed the aviary veterinarian's check-up today.

"There have been 25 chicks that have fledged from this nest box. So with the four that here, that's a total of 29 chicks that these guys have produced," said Dr. Katzner.

And that's also a good indication of what's taking place environmentally, which means we're doing a better job.

But that wasn't always the case.

In the 1960s and 70s when humans used DDT, a pesticide to help keep insects away, it caused a negative effect on the falcon's survival.

"Once the decline was realized, human action was able to be taken that has allowed these birds to recover their populations," said Dr. Katzner.

Although the Peregrine Falcon has been taken off the federal endangered species list, and we've made some progress here in Pennsylvania, it will still be sometime before the state can take them off our endangered list.

"Historically, Pennsylvania had about 44 or 45 Peregrine Falcon nests. And there's a target goal for recovery which is about 22 nests in natural sites and about right now we're at about 25 nests. But most of them are on buildings -- only 4 are in natural sites," said Dr. Katzner.

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