Recently, Natural Resources staff documented the presence of a territorial
adult peregrine pair spending a large amount of time at the Hawksbill Summit
area (the current location of our peregrine hacksite with 7 young peregrines
in a hackbox). For the safety of the young peregrines being hacked, we
were forced to move the peregrine hacksite to a location 4-5 miles to the
south of Hawksbill Summit. We selected Black Rock Summit at Big Meadows
as the new peregrine hacksite. This site was chosen because of reasonable
accessibility, good habitat suitability, and the needed buffer distance
from the territorial pair.
This site is located somewhat near Big Meadows Lodge. The two trails
that lead to this scenic cliff viewpoint (Black Rock) will need to be closed
until July 21st. This will temporarily impact visitors staying at Big Meadows
lodge, AT [Appalachian Trail] hikers, and others that want to access the
scenic viewpoint of Black Rock. The AT will remain open in this area.
The seven peregrine falcons were released on 7/15/09. They will be fed
until July 19th. All seven falcons are feeding and flying well. In late
June, one of the female fledglings was seen taking an unidentified songbird
in flight. We have had an adult female peregrine visit the hacksite twice
during late June. There were no negative interactions with her visit. Sometimes,
territorial adult peregrines will try to kill/injure fledgling peregrines
released near their territory. We have offered guided interpretive talks
to visitors wanting to learn more about the peregrine program at SNP. They
have been taking place at 10:30 AM on Tuesdays (meet at Big Meadows Lodge).
7/14/09 will be our last offered program.
