MTA: 2 peregrine falcon chicks hatch atop Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge
The MTA announced Sunday two healthy peregrine falcon chicks hatched atop of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge.
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May 23, 2021, 6:12 PM
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Updated 1,160 days ago
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The MTA announced Sunday two healthy peregrine falcon chicks hatched atop of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge.
They say the two are with their falcon mother in a specially built nesting box on top of the bridge's 215-foot Rockaway tower.
Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York.
Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York.
Identifying bands were placed on the newcomers when they were about three-weeks old on May 20. The bands help wildlife experts keep track of them and identify them in the event they become hurt or ill.
Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York.
Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York.
The new chicks are one of three falcon families being monitored as unhatched eggs remain on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Brooklyn tower and the Throgs Neck Bridge Queens tower.
Falcons like to nest atop bridges, church steeples and high-rise buildings because they provide a wide vantage point for hunting prey.
Peregrine falcons were nearly extinct by the 1960s due to pesticides in their food supply. They remain on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation endangered birds list.
The MTA has provided nesting boxes for falcons at each of the bridges as part of a state nesting program that was started back in 1983.
Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York.
