The second phase of the project was to clean up the hack boxes and determine if the site should be modified. The decision was made to move one of the two boxes to a new location that was safer from potential scavenger threats like cats, dogs, racoons and bears. Scavengers can be drawn to hack boxes because of the smells and sounds associated with feeding the fledging falcons. Moving the box was a tricky affair. It was heavy and needed to be transported some distance through briers, brambles, hoisted over fallen trees, dragged up and down slopes, and finally lowered over the cliff to a ledge 14 feet below. The new location was dubbed “Hack Box 1", later truncated to simply “HB1".
On May 5th, 2 falcon chicks were transferred from the Berkley Bridge in Virginia and placed in HB1 the following day.
On May 14, 7 more birds came from Virginia. The 3 from the James River Bridge were placed in the box with the 2 from the Berkley Bridge but the 4 from the Norris Bridge were too young to be moved to the cliff. It was decided to keep them at TRAC in the flight barn with our adult peregrine as a surrogate until they were old enough.
On May 21, the 5 birds in Box 1 were hacked out. The first release of the season!
On May 23, 3 birds were moved from Pennsylvania’s Betsy Ross Bridge. These were close in age to the birds in holding at TRAC but one bird suffered from a foot injury that necessitated pulling him from the project and placing him in rehab. He had a missing back talon and cannot be released to fend for himself until it heals and he has some flight training to make up for lost time. He has been placed with a qualified falconer for flight training and conditioning. The other 2 were placed in HB1 with the 4 from Virginia on May 26.
Then on May 30th, 11 more birds were transferred to the project. 7 came from 3 sites in New Jersey and 4 from Virginia. This was too many to place in the remaining unoccupied hack box so while TRAC Executive Director Wendy Perrone was on the road bringing them back from Virginia, TRAC Education Director Ron Perrone and TRAC volunteer Caleb Keneipp built Hack Box #3 at TRAC. The following day, with help from volunteers and Tiny Elliott, this box was placed at the cliff near HB2 and 11 birds were distributed between the two boxes.
A pre-release exam found one female peregrine from the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia had picked up a case of trichomoniasis prior to being sent to the project. The protozoan infection of the mouth made it impossible for her to eat any longer, and she was immediately placed in veterinary care at TRAC.
JUNE 9! The big release day finally arrived. All three boxes were opened and 16 Peregrine Falcons joined the 5 released on May 21. Observers stayed at the site until we were satisfied that all birds had eaten the food we'd left for them outside the boxes. Several had taken flight, and the rest were exploring the rocks around them. A few found a nice place to relax and take a mid-day siesta. Judging from the inquisitive playfulness and general attitude of the young falcons, the day was considered a big success.
The young female peregrine falcon from the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia was released at the base of the Bluestone Dam in Hinton on September 13, 2008 (below) .
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by Dayton WhittleShe had healed completely from the trichomoniasis infection and flew out strong and healthy.
On December 2, 2008, the last Peregrine, the Male (Band # 14/S) who had been with falconer Bill Grimes, was released at the State Capitol Building.
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by Steve RotschWe would like to thank the 23 volunteers, young and old alike, who donated over 300 hours to the project’s success. By the end of the project, in all, 20 hours were spent feeding peregrines still in their hack boxes prior to any being released, 270 hours of post-release observation time was accumulated over a period of 70 days, as well as 52 hours of pre-project site monitoring. 21 young falcons were released, with 17 staying around for free food past 14 days, which is considered an 81% release success.
In total for 2008, we released 23 falcons!
