Local fisherman Johnny Yucha did not immediately know what he had discovered when he found a young bird struggling in the water beneath the Uffington Bridge on Interstate 79 near Westover on May 25.
“Me and my father were fishing and I was going upriver when something caught my attention in the river,” Yucha said. “This little guy was just flapping his wings trying to swim. So I stopped the boat and picked it up.
“I thought it was just a random bird in the river, but when I picked it up I thought ‘Oh my God, that thing’s got ginormous talons,’” he recalled. “At first I thought it was a baby eagle because of how huge the talons were.”
Yucha recognized that the baby bird was cold and, wanting to do the right thing, he dried it off and placed it on the riverbank hoping its mother would find it.
He continued fishing for another hour or so, but before leaving decided to return to check on the youngster.
“There he was still shivering on the bank,” he said. “So, I picked him up, wrapped him in a towel and put him on the boat.”
Luckily, Yucha’s girlfriend knew a veterinarian at Cheat Lake Animal Hospital who was able to pass along the pictures he sent of the bird to Dr. Jesse Fallon, Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia (ACCA) board secretary and treasurer and owner of Cheat Lake Animal Hospital.
“The next thing you know Dr. Fallon, immediately – like 10 minutes later – called me and was like ‘You don’t realize what you have.’”
Yucha said not 20 minutes later he was meeting Fallon, who took the bird into the care of the ACCA.
What Yucha had found was indeed a rare sight in Monongalia County – a baby peregrine falcon.
Peregrines in the U.S.
Found on every continent except Antarctica, peregrine falcons are the fastest animal in the world with the ability to reach diving speeds of more than 200 mph. As a raptor, or bird of prey, they rely on their sharp talons, keen eyesight and hooked beaks to feed on other animals — the peregrine’s favorite being other birds and waterfowl.
In the mid-1900s the number of peregrines in the United States began to decline, largely due to the pesticide DDT that was commonly used at the time. Peregrine falcons are top predators and absorbed large amounts of DDT from their prey which poisoned the adults and also caused thinning of their egg shells, preventing the offspring from developing. Not only did the adults die, but their offspring could not develop in the egg.
They were placed on the federal endangered species list in 1970, but were removed in 1999 after conservation efforts and restoration programs began to see a rise in numbers. While numbers did rise in other regions, they remain rare in the eastern part of the U.S. and it has been decades since there has been a nest seen in Monongalia County.
A historic nest
According to Fallon, local birdwatchers have reported spotting two adult peregrines near the Uffington Bridge for the past few years, but likely due to road construction in the area, they had never successfully completed a nest … that is, until this year.
The historic nest, which is located atop one of the steel girders under the bridge, had four chicks in it which were believed to have hatched in April, Fallon said.
Peregrines are increasingly nesting on human structures, Fallon said, and bridges are the classic example.
“Because they are hunting mostly birds and waterfowl, these bridge sites provide the right habitat for them. So they are starting to use those manmade structures even more or as much as natural sites.”
A big fall
The little falcon family under the Uffington Bridge was doing great, primarily feeding on rock pigeons in the area, when disaster struck.
“They got to be about four weeks old when one of the chicks, the youngest, fell off the bridge,” he said. “It was either blown off by wind or wandered out there and didn’t have enough balance yet, and fell into the river.
“He was in the water for an unknown length of time when Johnny, the fisherman, saw the bird and recovered it.”
Fallon and ACCA staff did a full exam on the bird, including X-rays, and didn’t find any fractures, but discovered the baby was exhausted, probably from trying to swim and stay afloat, as well as hypothermic.
With supportive care at ACCA over the course of a few weeks, the young peregrine grew stronger and has fully grown feathers, a sign it was ready to be fledged (able to fly). A DNA test also confirmed the falcon to be a female.
To prepare the falcon for her first flight and release, ACCA staff did daily flight training to build her strength and added a bird band to her leg so she can be identified as a rehabilitated bird should she find herself in trouble again.
“She’s gotten stronger and stronger each day, her wings have grown in, so at this point she is ready for release,” Fallon said last Friday.
Fallon said one of the other babies had already fledged and the other two were still on the bridge, meaning the parents were still in the area. If the young falcon could make the flight to a perch near the others, there was a good chance mom and dad would hear her and once again begin to care for her.
A successful release
The Dominion Post was there when the fledgling was released under the north end of the bridge last Saturday.
Yucha, who hadn’t seen the bird since handing it over to Fallon, came to see her released and did not even recognize the youngster he pulled from the water over two weeks before.
The young creature he described as “like having a mini pterodactyl on the boat,” was now much larger, covered in feathers, and unmistakably a falcon.
Fallon was unsure what would happen when he placed the young fledgling on the edge of the rocky cliff under the bridge, she could take off immediately, she could stand there all day.
It ended up being a magical moment. After Fallon placed her on the rocks, she paused for a moment, looking around as if she knew she was finally home.
Kicking up a small cloud of dust on take-off, she spread her wings a flew straight toward the nest area where one of the other fledglings could be seen flying.
Significance
With the future of the bird looking bright for now, the historical significance of the moment was not lost on Fallon or those who came to see the release.
“This is a very important individual bird – it’s an important species,” he said. “When we have peregrines present and nesting it means we have a healthy ecosystem. It means we’ve got all kinds of smaller creatures that are living and thriving, it means that our water quality is at a point where it can sustain an apex predator like the peregrine.
“So it’s really good news for the ecosystem and it’s good news for us because we all share the environment, we share the same waterways and so it’s a really positive sign to have these birds nesting there,” he said.
The peregrines can be spotted by those looking for them, so you may see one of the babies or one of the adults as you’re driving near the bridge on I-79.
“Take a look around because they are flying in the area and appreciate the fact that we’ve got these magnificent creatures flying at 200 miles an hour around us as we drive to work on our daily commute,” Fallon said.
