From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made in the 1970s, when only two bald eagles remained in New York State.

As my colleague Veronica Volk reports, bald eagles were already in trouble thanks to habitat loss and hunting.

And then the toxic insecticide DDT brought the species to the brink of extinction.

DDT causes eagle eggshells to thin and break before hatching.

DDT was eventually banned, and conservation is said about their mission of helping grow the population of eagles in New York State.

A series of innovations were successful, and now the DC is monitoring hundreds of eagles in the state.

I'll read now from Veronica's recent report on local bald eagles.

Quote in the highest branches of the tallest trees along the northern edge of around the coyote is a big dark tangle of brush.

The home of two beautiful bald eagles, Eagle nests are massive, spanning 5 to 6ft in diameter and conspicuous among bare winter branches.

This one was first spotted last fall, its proximity to the human world delighting passers by.

End quote.

The story is a really interesting one because people just want to see the Eagles, and yet there's all these kind of like, be careful, like don't, don't get too close.

And and the deck has a lot to say.

They've got a lot of advice on how to handle being close.

Eagles are still offered a number of special designations.

The bird continues to be protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

And this hour, we're not just going to talk about eagles.

We're gonna talk about Falcons.

We're gonna talk about birds of prey.

Why they're falcons in Rochester.

There's so much to talk about this hour.

Did you ever think you're going to go deep on birds?

Veronica Volk you know, I didn't know I'd be here, but I'm glad I am.

I am.

You've learned a lot here.

and so it's great to have a senior producer, an editor for WXXI news, Veronica Volk, with us in studio, June Somers in studio, president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society.

Hello, June.

Hello.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you very much for having me.

Big fan of the Falcons.

Yes.

And we have lots of fans.

We're going to talk about that coming up.

And Amy Maha is on the line with us biologists in the Bureau of Wildlife for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Amy, welcome to you.

Thanks for being with us.

Thanks so much.

It's great to be here.

This is one of those stories, Veronica.

Like.

Like if I did a story on parking, I would think, like, who wants to talk about parking?

It turns out everybody.

Everybody wants to talk about parking.

Everyone's got opinions.

Everybody loves eagles.

Like, this is a story that people will connect with pretty quickly.

I think so, and obviously like the bald eagle in particular is a symbol not just for, you know, the United States, not just for conservation, but it's just like an iconic bird.

and it's just like a really interesting topic.

So.

Yeah, let's get into it.

Did I was it in your report or elsewhere that Biden, one of his last acts was making this the official national bird?

That's right.

Well, I mean, I kind of thought it was already I read that I was like, what?

Well, because we've been using the bald eagle as a national symbol of American patriotism dating back to, I think, I think it might have been like dating back to the colonies.

Massachusetts had a coin with a bald eagle on it.

and then if you obviously pre-dating the colonies, it was an iconic symbol for indigenous peoples and in the United States as well.

So it goes back a long time.

And so when people alert us, hey, there's this cool nest in around the coyote, people are kind of stopping by to see it.

There's a lot of buzz.

I was like, this is ripe for a great story.

I want to say that people didn't alert me to this.

I was I was driving and I saw it.

Right.

I don't believe that.

No, no, I did okay.

I would go back checking and fact checking.

My what is this, MSNBC?

I was driving down the road and I saw the I actually it was my husband who saw the nest and pointed it out to me.

and we were able to see it sort of often just because it's on this route that we travel quite often.

And I'm not going to mention where it is, because I think a lot of local people know, but there's a lot of, sort of controversy around whether or not we should be talking about wearing dusters because it is such in such close proximity to people, and that might present a danger for the birds.

but just know that I was driving this route pretty often and I would see the nest.

And so like, I became a little bit interested in it, and I would see the eagles in the nest occasionally.

and it led me down this path where I was talking to other people about it.

And then I was seeing it on Facebook groups where people were taking pictures of it and getting really excited.

so it started to become like a little bit of a talker.

And, you know, you can kind of see why, because once you sort of peek at where bald eagles are right now, it takes you down this road of learning all about the history of the conservation, which spans at this point, about 50 years since DDT was banned, 50 years since the first Eagle hacking conservation programs, were launched in New York.

And I really I'm really interested to hear, Amy talk about those and, and then also of course it brings you to the conservation efforts of other birds of prey that were impacted by DDT, including the peregrine falcon.

and it's really interesting to see not only how these species rebound, but how they're able to draw an audience and fans on eagle cams and falcon cams and, and, and how they're able to inspire people to care more about conservation.

and also just be more mindful of sort of the history of conservation so that we can think about maybe the future of it as well.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a it would have been a great story on its own.

I did not know about just how dire things were for Eagles until your reporting.

you know, really, really precarious situation in the 70s.

I can also say, I drive sometimes through the Finger Lakes, and there is a stretch leading over to the east side of Cayuga Lake.

So if you get off at probably the Waterloo exit and you head on down, just north, heading east before you turn south along the lake, there are a ton of huge nests on the, the the poles.

Right.

And I would take my son would be like looking for bird heads popping out.

I don't know that those are eagles.

I know there's other.

yeah.

So everybody is about to correct me.

And they're not eagles.

I Veronica saw the Eagles.

What did you see?

All you saw were like, you know, Hawks or something, but it's it's the nests themselves are amazing, aren't they?

Veronica Lake, the one that you saw is huge, isn't it?

I mean, like like my reporting, says.

And you can check that out on our website, WXXI News Talk.

you know, the nets are huge.

They're five feet across.

I mean, the birds themselves are enormous.

Oh, June's going to correct me ten feet.

She's she's mining ten feet for those of us watching on YouTube.

and you know what?

I will actually, I think I should probably hand it over to some of our experts here, but just to say that, like, not only are they nesting in, these sort of bare winter trees, which makes them incredibly, incredibly visible.

But the scale of these nests and the scale of the birds themselves, particularly bald eagles.

they're they're really big.

So I just like a bigger than you think.

I saw a bald eagle, in person for the first time this weekend when I was, visiting Wild Wings, which is a rehabilitation, rehabilitation, bird rehabilitation center in Rochester in mind in Ponce Park.

And they are enormous.

So we can get into to all of that.

But I do want to talk, like as big as a child there they were bigger than my child.

They were bigger than my child.

They're enormous.

Amy, this story is a remarkable.

I mean, it sounds like a remarkable success story going back to that period in the 70s, right?

Oh my gosh, it is such a success story.

I want to jump in, though.

The nest that you're seeing, along Cuba, like.

Yeah, those are Osprey nest and they're amazing.

And I love seeing that spike.

So they're still cool.

Hats.

Oh, they're super cool.

Definitely cool.

Yeah.

but but, Amy.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

I mean, like, I just love, you know, how far we've come, considering how.

I mean, this was almost a DDT.

Was a mistake, but, I mean, this was almost a disaster in terms of conservation.

Oh, my gosh.

Yes.

By 1975, as you said, there was only one breeding pair left in New York State, and they weren't even laying eggs.

They were they were laying eggs, but the eggs weren't viable.

so we were really in trouble.

But even before DDT, up until like the 1930s, bald eagles were viewed as a nuisance wildlife species, and they were pretty much killed indiscriminately.

people accused them of taking their livestock.

competing with hunters.

there were rumors that they would carry children away, which, by the way, does not happen.

they can only lift about 4 to 5 pounds, so no worries about children.

so then when DDT came along, it was kind of like, you know, that that final nail in the coffin.

luckily, it did not end up being that way.

And, our restoration efforts really moved things in the right direction, along with a lot of legislation that went down in the 1970s.

Well, I mean, in reading Veronica's story about how this happened first time, like those poor two breeding eagles and the like every day I everybody's like, so do you guys up to like, like people like sending like boxes of chocolates and red wine and eagles, like I'm reading the story.

I'm like, how are they going to do this?

And how did this happen, Amy?

Like, it's amazing that this happened.

Okay.

So it was a two pronged approach to reintroduction in New York State.

there was fostering and there was hacking.

So the fostering took place at, nest of the breeding pair down at Hemlock Lake.

it was essentially that since they were still laying eggs.

between 1976 and 1980, when the birds were incubating, the EC staff, Pete Nye and Mike Allen would climb up this 80ft tall shagbark tree to the top of the nest.

They would remove the eggs and replace them with fake eggs.

Then, the adults would continue incubating these fake eggs for like a month or so.

a month later, the staff would climb back up the tree, remove the fake eggs, and replace them with 2 to 3 week old captive bred chicks from Maryland.

And the adults would then raise the chicks as their own.

And so by 1978, this fostering resulted in the first young fledged in New York State in almost 15 years.

So amazing.

Second prong of this was hacking and, which is hand rearing until independence and, this was a technique that was used successfully for peregrine falcons, but never for eagles.

and so the effort was like the first of its kind and, the most comprehensive bald eagle restoration program in North America at the time, was headed up by Thomas Cade of Cornell and Pete Nye and Mike Allen of DC, and they really did not know if it would be successful, but they knew that something had to be done.

so in 1976, at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, they brought in, these young eagles, younger eagle chicks.

And, they placed them in these large penthouse enclosures at the top of, essentially on 40ft tall stilts overlooking Montezuma's sharky pool.

and since eagles will return to their natal territory when they reach breeding age, they didn't want to bring adults.

They wanted to bring young and introduce and reintroduce them into New York State so they'd stick around and breed.

so these chicks were hand fed from behind a tarp.

So they never, were they never started to associate food with people.

they were given carp and small mammals and, then when they were old enough to learn to fly the side of the enclosure was opened up.

they learned to fly on their own.

They learned to hunt on their own.

And, for years after the program began, a couple of, first Eagles, Henry and Agnes, nested near Watertown, New York, and fledged two checks.

And the program continued at Montezuma between 1976 and 1980.

And, during that time, 23 bald eagles were released.

Then it was so successful that between 1981 and 1989, the hacking program was expanded to Oak Orchard Wildlife Management Area.

A couple spots in the Adirondacks.

and in the Albany area.

And by the end of the program in 1980, not sorry, 1989, when we had achieved a goal of ten nesting pairs in New York State.

other states were taking up this program, and they were doing the same thing because, you know, it it was an amazing success.

And really, it's it gives us hope and lets us feel that we really can make a difference.

and also a motivation to never let it get to that point again, where we need to make that much of a difference.

What's the I don't have the note in front of me.

I think Veronica's report may have had it.

What's the estimate of how many eagles now in New York State?

Oh my gosh.

So in New York State, we figure that we have about 476 breeding territories.

and in DC region eight which is the area that I cover, it's 11 counties.

that includes Lake Ontario, Lake Plains, the western finger Lakes and parts of the Southern Tier.

So we went from that one nest in 1976, 50 years ago, by 2000 to 25 years ago.

We're monitoring five nests in 2015, ten years ago.

We're monitoring 42 nests.

And over the past couple of years, I've been monitoring 91 active nests.

Wow.

so, yeah, it's amazing what a story.

I'm sure there are more that aren't being that we just don't know about, that aren't being monitored.

And so listeners, if you want to share your stories, I mean, everybody's already popping in our staff and the group chat here talking about Redtail Hawks.

And, our colleague Jeff says, you can see those Eagles from his house quite a bit.

if you want to share your thoughts, if you've got questions about, you know what to do, especially if they nest near you, that kind of thing.

you can call the program.

It's toll free.

844295 talk.

8442958255263 WXXI for call from Rochester.

2639994.

You can email the program connections at Hawk and join us on the YouTube chat on the Sky news YouTube channel.

We're on there right now.

Before we talk Falcons, though, on the question of what to do if they're nesting near you, let's listen to a little bit of sound.

First, hear some advice from the comedian Nate Barghouti who had this happen to him.

He's talking about Eagle's Nest in nearby.

Let's listen.

We had a we had an eagle build a nest in our backyard.

And if you ever that happened just so you know, the Eagle owns your land.

You can't do anything.

You can't bother it.

Like you can't disturb it.

You got a bird.

Do you mind if we come out to the yard that we pay for?

And if the eagle's not filling it, you got to go back inside.

Can't kill it.

You go to jail for life.

We celebrate eagles in this country and it's gone to their head.

That's Nate Margetts.

All right.

All right.

Amy, how much truth there?

Okay.

So we don't want people to be next to, an eagle's nest.

really?

To avoid disturbing the eagles?

Yeah, that you should give them at least 660ft.

view them through binoculars or a spotting scope.

and, yes, for the in this the case of the nest up in around a coyote.

that's not possible.

They're houses that are well within the 660ft.

We're not asking people to, you know, leave their houses and come back once breeding season is over.

we're just asking that people don't hang out underneath the nest.

and approach the nest tree.

The eagles moved into this area.

They, It was already, you know, a busy neighborhood, a busy road.

And so by moving into this neighborhood and building a nest here, they were showing that they were fairly tolerant of, human activity.

I don't know if they'll be tolerant of people approaching their nest as there is any young, develop, but, right now.

Yeah, that they, we don't, you know, the Eagles don't own your land.

However, we definitely would like you to give them some space.

and it's enjoyable to see the Eagles.

People love them.

And they'll keep coming back as long as they're not disturbed.

I hope it's obvious that we don't have to say this, but, like, please don't kill the Eagles.

I mean, that bar gets ejected if you do.

You go to jail for life.

I don't think it's jail for life, but I think it's pretty serious if you if you kill an eagle these days.

Right.

Oh, it's definitely pretty serious.

I mean, they're protected under state law for, state regulations for endangered species and federal regulations.

for the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, as well as Migratory Bird Act.

so, yeah, don't go messing with the eagles.

Yeah.

And so that will, I think, transition us to other birds of prey.

And Frank in Greece has a question about that.

Hey, Frank.

Go ahead.

Hi.

I just want to say that, I live at the Long Island English game bird of Greece.

It's going to be a mature, neighborhood with lots of trees.

I had a case and and the case and got a dog case, and dog got too close to a nice.

And the birds would come by and pluck, pluck, pluck the case, and and unfortunately, we've lost 1 or 2 small dogs to coyotes.

So the, I just want to say it, it is a real danger that, you know, wildlife and domestic life can conflict with each other.

But what I really want to know is, how do I identify a falcon?

I know what the needle looks like.

I don't want a red tailed hawk.

Looks like I know what a crow looks like.

But how do I identify a falcon?

It's a great question, Frank.

In June, do you want to start with this one here?

Yes, I can take that one.

Okay.

a Falcon compared to, a hawk.

Hawks have wide, feathered, wings at the end and, wide tail usually.

they can have narrow tails.

Considered, considering, which species it is.

Falcons, on the other hand, have very narrow, pointed tips to their wings and, narrow tails.

they generally fly fairly high in the sky.

I know the area you live in, and we don't have too many falcons out there because there aren't very many tall buildings for them to nest in.

Okay.

Amy, anything you want to add there?

I think that you did a great job.

Okay, so, so, Frank, you're probably not going to see a lot of peregrine falcons out there, but you'll see all the other things he's talking.

I mean, it's a that's long pants.

Got a lot going on a lot.

And if you go up to, Braddock Bay to Lake Ontario, Braddock Bay is a, a hawk.

There's a hawk watch there where they're now counting the number of birds that are number of raptors that are coming through on migration.

And there are some peregrines that are coming through.

a number of eagles.

and, a lot of vultures right now.

So I suggest going up, sitting down with the hawk watcher and and see seeing what's coming through.

In a moment, we're going to talk about the story about why there are falcons in the city of Rochester.

Let me read a little bit of feedback here.

Ken in East Rochester says, about a month ago, I was at the Troy Farmer's Market enjoying live music.

And he says it was an in an atrium with large glass panels above.

And I caught the flight of the fly by overhead of a bald eagle.

And it was a special moment.

Not sure anyone else saw it, but there is something else.

Something about seeing a bald eagle that always sets it apart from everything else you can see in the sky.

That is from Ken.

And, I remember my first bald eagle.

Is that right?

The first.

I think that for a lot of people who have seen them like they do have, like a memory of the first time they saw one, just because, I mean, as Amy sort of laid out with the, with just sort of the exponential, increase of their numbers even just over the last 20 years.

It used to be that you didn't see them.

You did.

You would not see a bald eagle in its natural environment.

And and that made seeing one feel so much more special.

And I think even now, one of the one of the reasons that this story even came to be is because there were people that had never seen an eagle before.

So they're drawn to this nest so that they could see one in real life for the first time.

Amy, I, I it was a number of years ago.

My son was really into peregrine falcons.

June would be happy to hear that and I so I think I'm remembering that the peregrine falcon is the fastest dive, kind of a bullet dive that can go 180 miles an hour in a dive, 200 miles an hour.

Veronica.

Falcon, something like that.

That's what that's what I've heard.

I've heard one 8223 well, so it's in that range.

It's very fastest land animal on Earth.

Peregrine falcon.

Not as good of branding as the cheetah, unfortunately, but, they are the fastest.

Very fast.

But I learned in your reporting that if you see the Eagles, they in, I think it's a mating ritual.

They.

You said they engage in a stunning, courtship rich courtship ritual in which the pair will intertwine their talons and freefall.

Yes.

That is that would be amazing to see.

And, I'm going to need Amy to confirm on this bald eagle fact.

But what I've heard is that it's very much like how they fight as well, but they intertwine, their talons, and they and they freefall, they dive.

It's it's it's called a death spiral.

For some people who have had the, pleasure, I guess, of seeing it.

And they sort of like, let go in in sort of a game of chicken, which I think we got to rebrand the name chicken, I guess.

But, they let go and they sort of climb back into the sky.

But, Amy, am I correct on that or is that one of those.

You are correct.

Okay.

no, you're totally correct about that.

last year, someone in the Rochester area saw this and it took a video on their phone and they sent it to me, and I have never seen it in person.

but it is amazing.

And they really do come so close to the ground that you're holding your breath, just hoping that they're going to release before they get to the bottom.

but yeah, it's stunning.

Definitely.

Michael writes to say about 50 years ago, I was with my best friend at a farm his parents bought in spring water.

We were both environmentalists, and we were convinced that we might never see an eagle in the wild for the rest of our lives.

We were walking by a pond on the farm when a bald eagle came soaring down and grabbed a trout from the pond with its talons, and then it majestically soared up into the sky and out of sight.

We stood there speechless, overwhelmed at what we had seen.

I can still see it quite vividly in my mind.

That is from Michael.

I want to take, this opportunity to talk about sort of the conservation efforts that Amy was talking about before, and she mentioned Mike Allen, and I really just want to talk about Mike Allen for a second.

he unfortunately passed away a few years ago, but when he was fresh out of college, and joined the DSE as a wildlife tech, one of the first projects that he was involved in was this Eagle foster parent and hacking, program conservation programs that we talked about.

he earned himself the moniker Eagle Man because he was so instrumental in, bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, not just in, you know, just the hands on conservation work that he did from climbing trees.

And he told a reporter once that he was afraid of heights, actually, but he had to learn how to climb trees, in order to replace eggs, but also flew to Alaska to sort of get some of the bald eagle chicks that they ended up, hand rearing at, Montezuma, I believe.

And there is a there's a plaque, dedicated to him at Wild Wings that says, you know, if you see a bald eagle flying overhead, you have Mike Allen to thank.

And I just I thought that was an important point to make as we sort of get these anecdotes of people, there's like, I didn't know that I would see one and I've seen one, here's a person who is really he was so instrumental in bringing the species back in New York.

But also, as Amy mentioned, you know, the hacking program, was so wildly successful that it was duplicated by other states.

So I just wanted to take a moment to, to give a shout out to Mike Eagle man.

Alan.

Yeah.

Well earned.

Appropriate.

And now listeners are sending Carl sends me check out the Eagles of Onondaga Lake.

There's cams, there's groups that follow these things.

and so before we turn to the Falcon stories, Amy, why do you think.

Why do you think Eagle cams?

I mean, during the pandemic, people were watching this pair of eagles in California.

I think Veronica, is that where you were writing about that?

Yes, I was okay.

So sometimes before I show, I read too much and I don't know if it's, it's an eagle eagle cam called friends of the San Bernardino.

No, Great Bear Valley.

now, see, I'm going to mess it up.

but there are two eagles in, Southern California who gained internet stardom, actually, during the pandemic.

And a lot of, you know, a lot of the things that a lot of people are into birding, and I know that, like, I'm in my 30s, so I'm, like, solidly getting into birding, but the pandemic really, I think gave people an excuse to start birdwatching and birding.

It was something to do outside.

It was something that they could do with, like with a community.

And also it was a way to experience nature and, and be excited about something at a time when things were really scary.

and I know that this particular Eagle pair became really popular during the pandemic, and it got people interested in these birds of prey.

And but we have our own cameras here in Rochester.

Yeah.

I want to talk about the Falcon cam.

Yeah.

Because I have been watching it every day.

I mean, there are people who are like locked in and that that it's I mean, I'm people.

It's Veronica's people.

So why don't we do this?

I'm late for our only break.

Let's take that break.

We're going to come back and talk about Falcons on the other side of this break.

June's got a lot of great stories to share here.

It's shares her love of peregrine falcons and Rochester listeners.

If you want to share your stories or questions about birds of prey like eagles, falcons and more.

Date 44295284429582552636.

If you call from Rochester 2639994, email the program connections at Six Eyed Hawk.

Join the chat on our YouTube page WXXI news YouTube page.

We're right back.

I'm Evan Dawson Wednesday on the next connections.

In our first hour, we go deep on translating biblical texts, and then in our second hour, a conversation with my colleague Gino Fanelli about his recent reporting about the filling in of the northern part of the inner loop and building a geothermal network.

Geothermal is not always easy for existing infrastructure.

How about starting fresh?

We'll talk about it.

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This is connections.

Oh, boy.

We just.

I just looked at the phone board.

I better take people's love for the love birds.

They love birds.

They love the birds, Brian.

And around the coyote's got a story to share.

Go ahead.

Brian.

Oh, yeah.

a couple of years ago, I was stepping off the duck porch.

Word over the top of my head, maybe ten feet up.

Two eagles like challenger Talon you were talking about.

There was some, falcons.

But were they doing territorial display or mating or who was just.

I was I was curious because it was so close.

I couldn't believe it.

Brian.

Thank you.

maybe they were just clumsy.

Anyway, what do you think?

I think it was very likely mating.

although it's very difficult to tell sometimes because, eagles defend their territories from other eagles and they will fight to the death.

so most likely, though, it was mating, but it could have been a territorial dispute.

an email listener wants to know if eagles are still, poached for trophies.

Amy.

They should not be, we don't we haven't had any issues with people shooting eagles, recently.

So I would say no, that hasn't been as much of an issue as it was in past years.

Well, Brian, thank you for that phone call.

we'll work in more of your feedback, listeners, in just a second.

June Summers did want to say hello to Amy.

so I'm going to give you the mic and we're going to talk about falcons here.

Go ahead.

Hi, Amy.

hi.

It is wonderful to hear your voice.

It is, wonderfully here.

Yours.

I don't know if heaven knows, but Amy also works on, the Falcons as well.

Well, Amy can do it all.

I feel she's very busy.

And, June is president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society.

So why are there for people who hear the stories of the Falcon camps and Rochester and peregrine falcons?

Why falcons here?

What's the story?

Okay, it started back in 1994 with, our Janie and Dennis money.

Dennis money was, in their environmental group, and he went on a trip to, New York City and he saw a, Falcon go into a stoop by, you know, by the window of his hotel.

And he said, we can do this in Rochester.

So he was able to get a permit, and and by 12, ACS is what we what the name of, young peregrine falcons, is.

And he bought 12 of them and set up, hacking boxes for them on top of the RG NE building downtown and raised them so that, they could not see him when he was feeding them.

And when they were old enough, he took the front off of their boxes and they learned to fly.

And he asked for, volunteers to come and watch them as they were learning to fly, to pick them up off the ground in case they came down.

And it was a really interesting experience because I had never had experiences with Falcons before.

And these young Falcons had to teach themselves to fly and hunt, and they would play with, monarch butterflies and the tops of trees, and practice hunting in that manner.

So, and 1998, he asked if he could put a, no, it was 1995.

He asked Kodak if he could put a nest box on top of the tower.

And in 1998, a female falcon and her mate took up in that box.

And that's where it really all started.

It goes back to Denis money.

Denis money.

So I just looked it up.

But the last time we had Dennis on this program was 2017, talking about his efforts with the white deer down on Seneca Lake.

which, by the way, probably needs a connections refresh.

That's a such an interesting story.

I don't even know what the latest status is of like, who's running it and what get into it.

Yeah.

So that but but I'm not surprised to hear Dennis money was at the heart of the peregrine falcons.

That's it.

and how are they doing, June?

What should people know about falcons these days?

Well, we have been through a number of pairs of falcons.

we have moved the Falcon box off of the cadet building.

It's now on the Times Square building, at the corner of Exchange and Broad Street.

We have now successfully fledged for a total of, a total of 86 falcons.

Yeah.

I iss so we've added a number of young falcons to the, to the stock of the, of Falcons on in, central and western New York.

we have found that, now, if we lose a falcon, which we did, 3 or 4 years ago, we lost beauty and, she passed away.

while she was trying to lay an egg, we believe.

Oh, boy.

And she did that at 1:00 in the morning.

And on an April day, April evening.

within 12 hours or less.

Another young falcon, which is the falcon that is now the, dominant female in the nest box, was took over in less than 12 hours.

That is remarkable.

We now have a stock of falcons.

around that we have replacements.

And, you know, when we started this, we didn't have that.

And now we have, falcons that winter over here in Rochester.

Well, not only did we not have that June and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that peregrine falcons were eradicated from New York State completely, completely, completely gone.

and the falcons that Denis money saw in New York City, they were part of a conservation effort that I'm sure maybe Amy can speak to where they were deciding, they had tried to rerelease peregrine falcons, captive bred in their natural environments, which would be like the side of cliffs, maybe like in the Adirondacks or something.

And their numbers were so small that they were being decimated by natural predators like the great horned owl, I believe.

Right?

Yes.

So they're like, oh no, what are we going to do with this Falcon?

well, they live on cliff sides.

What looks kind of like cliffs, buildings.

So we'll try to release them in cities.

They have pigeon populations, which are a natural, food source for peregrine falcons and no great horned owls.

So win win.

And it was a really successful program in New York City that we were able to replicate here in Rochester.

And it's it's been really successful.

Right.

New York City has the largest, peregrine falcon population for a city in the world.

Toronto has a large peregrine falcon population, and they have a, Canadian Peregrine Fund is in in Toronto, and they have a lot of peregrines there.

So between Rochester and, Toronto, we have a lot of peregrines.

That's a great story.

Hey, Peyton, Geneva, Alexander and Avon, I'm coming to you next on the phone.

Hang there for one more second.

Animal biologists in the Bureau of Wildlife for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, anything that you want to add or that we should know about, about peregrine falcons?

Well, they are still endangered in New York State.

but we monitor them on a regular basis.

I think within the last couple, last year, we were monitoring 105 territories.

so yeah, they're doing really well in New York State, much better.

and that is thanks to folks like Dennis Money and, who did get the program started up here in New York and upstate New York is such a cool story that tall buildings emulate cliffs.

Yeah, it's such a it's such a creative solution.

It's really great.

It's also really interesting because Thomas Cade, who Amy mentioned before, he's a biologist at Cornell University, also a falconer, which is, I think, how he came to know about hacking, which is this process of hand rearing checks.

And he was hand rearing peregrine falcon chicks, tapped by the DSE, I believe.

And please, someone jump in if I'm speaking out of turn but tapped by the DSE to try to pilot a similar hacking program for the bald eagles.

So you're looking at, first of all, people who are so dedicated to these animals and their conservation efforts.

And, yeah, it's just, again, really, really cool story history there.

All right.

Let me get some more feedback from listeners.

Pat, in Geneva, listening on iOS, Finger Lakes Public Radio.

Hey, Pat, go ahead.

Hi.

well, I before I ask a question, maybe I could make a quick comment.

I know that the, the Saturday nature walks at Montezuma, especially during the winter, are often lightly attended and, great opportunity to meet with naturalist, a friend of mine, Pete Sarah Snow, that runs some of those nature walks on Saturday mornings.

So this is the perfect weather to get out there.

Well, maybe not today.

But I want to you completely.

Yes, zoom is a wonderful area, especially to view bald eagles.

They have like 11 bald eagle nests right in that area.

Plus you'll see a bunch of other birds too.

go ahead.

Pat, I wanted to ask about kestrels, so I lived in New York State until I had to move away in 1983.

And I was.

It seems like you couldn't drive down a road without a kestrel on, on a power line, a sparrowhawk.

Right.

and I just I've moved back here.

I've been here five years and just don't see him like I used to.

And I'm hoping you can tell us why.

Or maybe what's being done about it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Pat.

Amy, do you want to start on that one?

I can give it a shot.

so we don't have any monitoring programs for kestrels in particular?

right now, I know that for a while there, we had some nest boxes, that were hoping to promote, kestrels in the area, but we really haven't been doing that for a bit now.

and it's unfortunately mostly a funding issue.

so I know that we still see them quite often when we are out doing, winter raptor surveys, because they do like the grasslands, and meadows.

But, whether they have, declined significantly, we don't have the numbers on that.

they are included in our breeding grassland bird surveys, though.

so I don't have the information off the top of my head.

but that's one way in which we are still doing some monitoring of them.

Okay.

Anything to add there, June?

Audubon.

New York's opinion is that they are in decline, and it's, probably because of pesticide use, because they eat insects.

So that's, the that's the Audubon opinion.

Pat, thank you for that phone call.

Alexander and Yvonne next.

Hey, Alexander.

Go ahead.

Hi.

I just wanted to comment on the fact that, I, it's a privilege to see several bald eagles had the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.

it's certainly driving on the thruway.

You see the big metal, statues or carving or art work.

But when you saw it in real life, it totally took my friend away.

I have since, gone to Montezuma multiple times.

sometimes trying to see if I can photograph with the bald eagles.

and so I have a question that is, if you're attempting to photograph these birds, what is the best way maybe to go about doing so?

how far should you be away from them?

And one last comment that is that, as a result of having first, seeing the bald eagles, I have since, started taking notice.

A lot of birds include sandhill cranes, which I saw last year in that same refuge.

Okay.

thank you.

Alexander.

So Veronica's reporting had the number, and I think Amy might have mentioned it earlier.

660ft, which might seem oddly specific, but, Amy, is that the idea?

Don't get.

Even if you're photographing eagles, try to stay that far away.

You should try to stay that far away.

And plus, if you're doing that, then the Eagles are going to be having normal eagle behavior, and it'll probably give you something a little bit more interesting to, get a photograph of.

So that is a plus.

but yeah, eagles are so big and charismatic, that I think they're often an entry bird for a lot of folks as they're getting into birding.

they, they do capture our imagination.

And the DDC, Alexander indicates and I'm sure probably Alexander is on to this already.

But don't try to make them fly.

Don't force them to leave the nest or anything just for the sake of a photograph.

you know, refrain from loud noises that might spook them a bit.

Car horns, that kind of a thing, you know, just kind of be cool and keep some distance, and they'll probably give you great material to work with there.

So, Alexander, thank you for that.

Let me squeeze in a few more written comments here.

Charlie says, I am overjoyed to see the bald eagles are back.

It is a dream come true for me and other backyard environmentalists.

I remember the first time I saw Bald Eagle with my kids in Glacier National Park and the going to the Sun Highway, when a bald eagle flew parallel to our Astro van.

We were excited and pulled over and watched the eagle fly away.

No one spoke for quite a while.

We were so stunned.

Katherine says reference to something I read about in Veronica's story said I grew up in West Toronto.

Quote I was a student during the time of our school mascot rebrand when we were voting on new options.

I remember thinking Eradicate Eagles doesn't make much sense.

I'd never seen an eagle in the area.

I've never been happier to be proven wrong.

Just yesterday I was riding Amtrak back from New York City.

I saw two bald eagles along the way.

It's incredible and inspiring to see how they've rebounded in such a short period of time.

That's Catherine.

So yeah, I mean a little community story there, but it is incredible.

And the town was rebranded from the Iran Indians, and they chose the moniker the Eagles, which I think has such, particular significance for people, obviously, who who sort of love the eagle as a symbol for strength.

And, so just for so many reasons, but also, sort of a reckoning with history and the eagle being a symbol of, like, progress.

there's so many different ways that the eagle can, like, inspire people.

And I really do love that little anecdote of the rebrand, especially because, like the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl this year.

And I just think that that's just an interesting full circle moment for us.

Yeah.

two other comments here.

And then we're going to talk about the future of conservation here.

to close the program, David from Monday says if anyone's interested in reading about peregrines, there is a classic book, The Peregrine, by Jay Baker, who writes about a falcon he followed in England.

So there's a good recommendation.

John, you want to endorse that one?

I want to endorse that one.

It is excellent.

And MJ says I always used to see kestrels in hedgerows, but both the farms and local towns are removing those at a rapid pace.

Hedgerows are so important to birds.

That's from MJ.

Yes.

June.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

anything to add on that point, Amy?

I guess I didn't think about the connection there.

Yeah.

I mean, if you're having more diversified habitat, then yes, it's going to be better for the species in general.

It gives them a place to, to hide out.

to, avoid predators.

So definitely not a bad spot.

Thank.

Yeah.

Thank you MJ.

So Veronica, your story not only is, as I said at the beginning, just such a cool story about local interest, but it's a it's a history story.

It's a story and it's a success story in conservation.

Where's the movement go next year?

What questions do you think are need to be answered?

that's a really good question.

I think one of the things that I was thinking about as I was reporting this out is how many different levers were pulled in the conservation of the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon.

How many different, levels of bureaucracy were sort of brought in to save these animals?

They had to ban a pesticide.

They had to pass, an endangered species legislation.

They had to build out protections that were recognized local, state and federal levels.

and this all happened 50 years ago.

And since then, there's been constant work to sort of continue to fund these programs and to, staff these organizations, that do this work.

And it occurs to me that the the time that we're in is a lot different than, than when a lot of this work started in the 1970s and I, I actually don't know what the future of conservation looks like.

particularly when it comes to, to to animals like the bald eagle that that is still under threat.

And Amy can talk a little bit more about that, but particularly looking at the bald eagle and how it's rebounded numbers presents a new, unique challenge, which is that now it's sort of living on the edge where it can interact more with humans, where, they're now competing for wild habitats, and therefore they're going to have to nest in more public places.

And, and that threat, so conservation as a paradox is something that I've thought about a lot.

And I'd like to I'd love to hear, Amy's thoughts as someone who's, who's doing the work and where she thinks the work is going.

So right now we're looking a lot into the different threats that are still, that eagles are still facing.

And one of the biggest threats that we don't have as much control over, our 67% of eagles in New York State, you die of, of trauma.

and that's usually like vehicle strikes.

And there's such large, heavy birds that it takes them a bit to get started when they're lifting off the ground, you know, when they're scavenging, roadkill on the side of the road.

And often they take off right into the path of traffic.

And so, that's one of the biggest causes of mortality.

But we also have lead poisoning, and that's like 12% of deaths in New York State.

And but this is something that is really preventable.

And, so this part gives me hope.

So lead bullets are used by most hunters.

And when the lead bullets hit their target, they break up upon impact into these hundreds of tiny little shards that spread well beyond the wound channel.

and it's typical for hunters to feel dressed their deer.

And then the gut piles will attract scavengers like eagles.

and then so eagles are unintentionally exposed to these toxic lead fragments, and it only takes about a piece of lead the size of a grain of rice to kill an eagle.

so it's.

Yeah.

It's huge.

but the good news, this is what I find hope with is that we can do something about it.

And, last year, to encourage DSE or encourage hunters to try non lead ammunition, deck piloted the statewide voluntary rebate program where it would, give a rebate of up to $60 for the purchase of non lead ammunition.

and I've heard that this program will continue into 2025 and 2026.

So I encourage any hunters to Google hunters for Eagle Conservation New York to find out more information about how they can participate.

Great stuff.

And we got about 30s Dune.

Some final thoughts from you on the subject of conservation.

All right.

visit our Falcon cam.com to watch the falcons, incubate and and raise their young.

They have four eggs at this point.

And, I'd like to invite everyone to, bird of prey days at Braddock Bay Park, the 26 and 27th of April.

And both of these things are awareness and educational.

event, so to speak.

And you'll learn more great family events.

that that's great.

And you'll learn more about conservation of raptors.

So Braddock Bay Park, three weekends from now, about two and a half weeks from Saturday and Sunday, Saturday and Sunday.

Wonderful.

Thank you for being here.

Thanks for sharing your passion and your expertise, June.

It's been great having you.

June Summers is president of the Genesee Valley Audubon Society.

Amy Maha is biologist in the Bureau of Wildlife for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Amy, thank you so much.

Really enjoyed it.

Thank you very much.

It is great to be here.

And Veronica Volk, I am so glad you noticed that Eagle's Nest as drives.

Well, I mean, I live in around quite there's wildlife everywhere there anything there is.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

This is great.

Let's do more of this from the whole team at connections.

And it's a list too long for me to mention, but it is a wonderful team and we're wishing you a great day.

We're back with you tomorrow on member supported public media.

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