Female peregrine falcon cared for at Red Creek dies

Amy Marchiano, Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.
·2 min read
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Dec. 2—A female peregrine falcon that had nested at the Rachel Carson State Office Building in downtown Harrisburg and was recuperating at Red Creek Wildlife Center has died.

Bert Myers, environmental education specialist program supervisor with the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Thursday that he received a call Tuesday from Peggy Hentz, founder and director of Red Creek, about the 13-year-old falcon. He said Hentz concluded the falcon died of age-related, natural causes.

"It was really unexpected," Hentz said Thursday.

Greg Nason, senior wildlife rehabilitator with the center, found the falcon, banded 48/AE, in her cage around 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Hentz said.

"She looked like she had just fallen asleep and had died in her sleep," Hentz said. She didn't contact Myers until Tuesday because of the holiday weekend.

Hentz and a volunteer with the rescue group Falcon Watch and Rescue Program retrieved the falcon in Harrisburg in late May after it attempted to glide to the Carson building.

The falcon was seen in a scuffle with turkey vultures at the nest site. Myers was unsure how the falcon suffered its injury.

On June 1, the falcon was diagnosed with a dislocated left shoulder, as well as torn tendons and ligaments, by Dr. Len Donato of Radnor Veterinary Hospital in Wayne, Delaware County.

"She was flying, but not with the strength she needed yet," Hentz said.

Myers said the falcon had been nesting at the Carson building for a decade.

"She was a remarkable bird," he said.

Myers said the average age for falcons is between 12 and 15 years old.

"She was fierce; she also was an outstanding mother," he said.

The falcon had laid 41 eggs, of which 37 hatched. Thirty-five fledglings left the nest, and two died.

Hentz said the death impacts the center's employees, who fostered a relationship with the falcon.

"We were very attached to her," Hentz said.

The PA Falcon Cam on DEP's website, www.dep.pa.gov, has live feeds of the nesting site on the Carson building.

It has received views from the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Japan, among other countries, according to .

Contact the writer: amarchiano@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023