Today the James River Bridge eyases where banded and taken from their parents and the nestsite to a hackingbox. That is a very sudden unexpected goodbye from these 3 little chicklets.
This nest box is on a very busy bridge. The nest box is situated on a catwalk on the side of a building approximately 160ft above the water. The cat walk does not have any thing on the sides to keep the chicks from falling into the water and drowning. A few years ago, when Virginia was the female at this site, they would move the chicks to the roof of the bridge, which at least had a side to keep them corraled for a bit. Then the problem became that they would get up on the wall and tempt fate by walking what was essentially a tight rope. When there are gusty winds in the area, more than one of the chicks was blown off. The falcons chose this nest site, and a couple of years ago, they chose to forego the nest box and nest on the other bridge tower. That didn't turn out too well as you can imagine with the height involved and the winds that blow here in the Spring.
Read more about the hacking progrem in Virginia
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/birds/peregrine-falcon/
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