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Peregrine falcons flourish on the cliffs of Harpers Ferry NHP

By Bob Madison - For the Chronicle | Jul 14, 2023

A peregrine falcon rests on a rock in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Courtesy photo

HARPERS FERRY — Cooperation.

Through the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (NHP), United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Maryland Department of Natural Resources joining forces with experts and volunteers, saving the peregrine falcon from possible extinction is happily becoming a reality.

The sheer cliffs across the Potomac River from Harpers Ferry have seen successfully fledged falcon youngsters for the first time in 70 years.

Decimated ranks had all but left the eastern United States without peregrines. The insecticide dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) had made successfully hatching the rocket-fast birds of prey all but impossible, because the eggshells were too thin to withstand a season of incubation by the would-be parents.

But, finally, DDT was banned.

From Feb. 15 through July 31, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park holds a seasonal, temporary cliff closure to protect peregrine falcons in years when the birds are present in the park. Courtesy photo

The peregrines returned to the Maryland Heights cliffs for the time in 2015, but no youngsters were successfully fledged until 2021.

The cooperative efforts by the agencies and individuals have continued, with men repelling down the cliffs to improve the drainage area around nesting sites and to return natural stone to the nest areas over time.

Temporary, seasonal closure to areas above and below the nesting sites have been put in place to help keep the peregrines safe from incidents caused by humans.

One youngster survived in 2021. Three eggs were laid that year. In 2023, more success has been achieved, with additional hatchlings that aged enough to become feathered fledglings.

The smallish adults are known to be the fastest flyers of all the birds of prey, diving at quarry from the heights, at speeds estimated to be between 210 and 240 miles per hour.

Native shale gravel was added to improve drainage at one of the peregrine falcon nesting sites in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Courtesy photo

Usual prey for the eye-catching flyers include pigeons, blue jays and some species of ducks.

Since the banning of DDT, peregrine populations have increased, especially in the Rocky Mountains.

These are the same raptors featured in television documentaries on how they have inhabited the ledges of taller buildings and skyscrapers and can be watched by workers in glass enclosed offices on the upper floors of such urban structures. In the East Coast cities of Boston, Mass. and Washington, D.C. peregrines have been found nesting in upper reaches of some skyscrapers.

Mankind’s pesticides and herbicides drastically reduced the peregrine population. But now, through the cooperation between governmental agencies and individual volunteers, the rapid decline has been halted. And pairs of the raptors have finally returned to places they hadn’t visited in many decades.

To learn more about Harpers Ferry’s peregrine falcons, visit https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/nature/peregrine-falcons.htm.