12 May 2022
During courtship peregrine falcons are very conspicuous but after they lay eggs the pair becomes secretive. For more than a month, even at known nest sites, they are so quiet they seem to have disappeared. In this way they hide their nests from would be predators, including humans. The secret ends after the eggs hatch.
Peregrine chicks require many food deliveries so the parents come and go frequently and are eventually detected. Then, as the chicks mature their voices do, too, until they become so loud they are hard to ignore.
Seven years ago the Downtown peregrines chose a new nest site that was hidden from everyone except those who shared one office in the Frick Building. The nest was unremarkable until the chicks hatched.
On Throw Back Thursday, here’s a look at the how the Downtown peregrines were found in 2015. They used the Macy’s site only once.
(photo by Kate St. John on 20 May 2015)