I've been feeling an odd mixture of great excitement but also dread as spring approaches. Less than a week ago, in late February, I visited a local Peregrine Falcon eyrie. Snow still covered the ground, and the trail along the top of the gorge was icy and treacherous. But as I lifted my binoculars, I immediately saw her, a beautiful adult female Peregrine perched on a limb less than 10 feet from the nest ledge.
It was a great feeling to see her there, sunning herself on this chilly morning, but I was also filled with worry. Will she fall victim to the latest strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza? Will her nest fail? It's certainly a worry. Nearly 50 dead Snow Geese were picked up along the shore of nearby Seneca Lake a few weeks ago and were taken to Cornell for testing. They had all died of the deadly bird flu. And this time last year, a local game farm that breeds pheasants lost hundreds of birds to the disease. At least two local Peregrines have died of HPAI. Will there be more in the weeks or months ahead? We have no way of knowing.
I wrote an article for Audubon last September about how Peregrine Falcon numbers have been falling in parts of North America and Europe for the first time since the DDT era. Bird flu seems the most likely culprit. Here's a link to the article. I plan on closely monitoring all of our local Peregrine Falcon eyries this spring and summer. Fingers crossed!
