Peregrine Falcon Journeys

In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service is engaged in a project to restore the Peregrine Falcon to the Harpers Ferry National Park. Peregrines nested at a historical eyrie at Maryland Heights, a cliff on the Maryland side of the Potomac River directly opposite Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, until 1952. The restoration project involves the hacking of nestlings translocated from nests in the Chesapeake Bay. The nestlings have been fitted with transmitters that allow their movements to be tracked via satellite. One of the birds hacked at Maryland Heights this year made a concerted migratory movement last week, flying from the vicinity of Roanoke, Virginia, to just west of Tallahassee, Florida, in three days (see map).