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Re: peregrines in NC mountains?
- To: Steve Thomas <stype@sccoast.net>
- Subject: Re: peregrines in NC mountains?
- From: "K. Dean Edwards" <kde@angst.engr.utk.edu>
- Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 16:08:13 -0400 (EDT)
- cc: Carolinabirds <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
- In-Reply-To: <v01510100b556b0cb565a@[206.74.49.148]>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Steve,
Peregrine Falcons are indeed breeding in the the Smokies -- though
technically they are on the TN side of the national park, sorry
for the interstate nitpicking. :-)
Peregrines bred here historically (hence the names you mentioned,
Peregrine Peak and such) but were extirpated. Don't quote me
but I believe the last nest in TN was in 1947. Peregrines were
hacked in the Park during the 1980s. In 1997, two successful
nestings took place in TN, the first in 50-some-odd years. One
was below the Chickamauga Dam in Chattanooga, the other below the
eye-of-the-needle near Peregrine Peak along the Alum Cave Bluff
Trail in GSMNP. They have breed here each year since. The young
from this year's nest may have already fledged, I haven't heard
much from them this year and haven't made it up myself.
If you want the bird for your NC list, try the area around
Clingmans Dome. I've seen them hunting in this area several times.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
K. Dean Edwards
Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
kde@utk.edu
Phone -- 865-974-7358
Fax -- 865-974-5274