DEC tagging falcons all over Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Buffalo is about to keep better track of one of its falcon families.

There's been a peregrine falcon baby boom here in Buffalo in the past few weeks. And the latest family of five chicks were banded Wednesday at the newest nesting site at the Central Terminal.

Department of Environmental Conservation Wildlife Biologist Connie Adams and her team brought the five chicks down in buckets. There is one female and four males. Adams examined them and fitted them with special bands that will identify them for the rest of their lives. The DEC established this nest at the Central Terminal in November.

"We will be quite content, actually, if there was only one pair of nesting peregrine falcons in this vicinity. Peregrines need about a one mile radius around their nest site that they maintain aggressively as a territory. So they would defend their nest from any peregrines. So any peregrines in the area would have to establish elsewhere and, in fact, Buffalo has seven pairs of nesting peregrines, the most of any city in upstate New York," explained Adams.

These falcon chicks will leave the nest in about three weeks. And in honor of the neighborhood, these "Polish falcons" were born in, the female is named "Polonia" and one of the males is named "Stash."

You can learn more about peregrine falcons from the DEC here.