Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: The Crafty American Crow
American Crow in closeup, it's head turned toward its left shoulder, feathers gleaming in the sun
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

The Peregrine Falcon Makes a Comeback

Given a little help, birds can be resilient
Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Peregrine falcon
© Bill Gracey

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which came out in 1962, linked the pesticide DDT to the decline of many birds, including songbirds. But Peregrine Falcons and other raptors had declined, too. When the birds ingested DDT, it caused their eggshells to thin and break under the weight of the incubating bird. With the ban of DDT, nesting success rebounded. Join your local Audubon chapter and find out what you can do to help all birds!

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote©

The Peregrine Falcon Makes a Comeback

Written by Ellen Blackstone

This is BirdNote!

[Cak-cak-cakking of a Peregrine Falcon behind]
When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, she linked the widespread use of the pesticide DDT to the decline of many birds. Many people first thought of songbirds. Who could have known then that this bird [Cak-cak-cakking of a Peregrine Falcon] — the Peregrine Falcon — would become both a casualty and then one of the biggest success stories of all?
Peregrines’ birth rate declined drastically because the adults ingested DDT, along with their prey. The DDT caused the birds’ eggshells to thin and break under the weight of the incubating bird. The Peregrine is at the top of its food-chain. So whatever its prey has eaten, it, too, is eating.
With the banning of DDT, Peregrines’ nesting success rebounded. In Washington State, the birds have recovered from a low of only five pairs in 1980 to more than five pairs in the Seattle area alone.  [Cakking] In New York State, where nesting Peregrines had nearly disappeared, more than 60 pairs now nest, with more than a dozen pairs in New York City itself. Peregrines were removed from the federal Endangered Species List in 1999.
[More Peregrine cakking]
For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
BirdNote celebrates the everyday actions of our listeners and the work of our conservation partners to reverse the alarming decline in North American birds. Together, we can bring them back. Learn more and get involved at birdnote.org.
###
Call of the Peregrine Falcon provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by G. Vyn.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer Emeritus: Chris Peterson
© 2013-2020 Tune In to Nature.org     January 2013 / 2020    Narrator:  Mary McCann
ID#010706PEFAKPLU            PEFA-02b-2010-01-27    PEFA-02b / SotB-PEFA-01
 

Ellen Blackstone
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Support More Shows Like This
Tagsendangered species pesticides and toxins raptor State of the Birds falcon

Related Resources

Learn more about the Peregrine Fund - Conserving Birds of Prey WorldwideHere's more about the State of the Birds.Peregrine Falcons - More at All About BirdsFind your local Audubon chapter

More About These Birds

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

Falco peregrinus

Sights & Sounds

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy