Thursday, March 23, 2023 – THESE BIRDS LIKE HIGH RISE LIVING ON BRIDGES
FROM THE ARCHIVES
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2023
ISSUE 946
GET AN UP CLOSE VIEW
OF
THE BRIDGE FALCONS
OF
NYC AND NEW JERSEY
&
SUPPORT
“DOLLARS FOR DAFFODILS”
UPDATE:
OUR FIRST DONATIONS HAVE ARRIVED
THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA, MARK HERMAN, CAROLINE CAVALLI, MR. & MRS. RICHARD MEYER & NANCY BROWN FOR THEIR DONATIONS.
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden.
Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing.
We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again.
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
TO MAKE YOUR DONATION:
https://rihs.us/donation/
TO MAKE YOUR DONATION BY CHECK:
R.I.H.S., 531 MAIN STREET, #1704. NY NY 10044
GET AN UP CLOSE VIEW OF THE BRIDGE FALCONS OF NYC AND NEW JERSEY
A new solar-powered live stream now offers an inside look at the lives of New York and New Jersey’s bridge falcons. For more than thirty years, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has helped provide peregrine falcons with safe places to hatch and raise their chicks. Now, you can watch a family of peregrine falcons grow under the Bayonne Bridge.
MTA Photos Flickr, for the full album see here
Peregrine falcons love the high vantage points afforded by New York City and New Jersey’s bridges. The endangered predators typically prefer to nest on cliff ledges but have adapted to urban life by nesting at places like the Brooklyn Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Metropolitan Life Building, and Riverside Church among other locations. From these high points, they can dive bomb toward their prey at up to 200 miles per hour.
When the peregrine falcon population fell dangerously low due to the use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other pesticides in 1989, the Port Authority stepped in to help. While release programs initiated by the Peregrine Fund helped to restore the population, the Port Authority provided safe shelters away from human activity where the falcons could lay eggs and raise their young. More than 200 chicks have hatched at the agency’s facilities across the region.
MTA Photos Flickr, for the full album see here
Each year at nesting sites near the Bayonne, Goethals, and George Washington bridges as well as the Outerbridge Crossing, new chicks are given tags and names. Some past names have included Locust, Edgewater, and Bayside, inspired by where the falcons lived. The tags, implemented in collaboration with New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP), provide information on the birds’ movement, migration patterns, lifespan, and overall health.
The new live stream is focused on a 45-foot-tall nesting tower constructed by the Port Authority on an isolated island in the straits of the Kill van Kull, which runs under the Bayonne Bridge. It will be available for viewing until August 2023. Watch here on the Port Authority’s website!
THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
SEND YOUR REPLY TO:
ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM
PLEASE SUBMIT ANSWERS BEFORE 4 P.M.
WEDNESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
The Roosevelt Island EMS Garage, with the Hospital Department Power House across the street and the Hospital Department Laundry in the background. Note both the Power House and the Laundry were built long before the city created the Health and Hospitals Corporation.
ED LITCHER GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Copyright © 2022 Roosevelt Island Historical Society, All rights reserved.Our mailing address is:
rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com
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