Three peregrine falcons hatch atop Verrazzano Bridge’s Brooklyn tower
Photo: Marc A. Hermann/MTA
BAY RIDGE — THREE HEALTHY PEREGRINE FALCON chicks have hatched in a specially built nesting box atop the 693-foot Brooklyn Tower of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, MTA announced Friday. Each year, around the end of May, research scientist Chris Nadareski, of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, climbs to the top of the bridges and puts identifying bands on the fluffy chicks. This year’s bandings took place Friday, May 24, when the babies were about three weeks old. MTA Bridges and Tunnels provides a nesting box at each of the bridges but otherwise leaves the birds alone, the agency said.
Peregrine falcons were nearly wiped out by the 1960s as a result of pesticides and remain on the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation endangered birds list. Falcons mate for life and generally return to the same nest to hatch their young.
Photo: Marc A. Hermann/MTA
Photo: Marc A. Hermann/MTA
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Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.