Photo: Peregrine Falcon, Lorelei Stierlen/Audubon Photography Awards
In downtown Richmond Peregrine Falcons have been nesting since 2003. Over the years the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and their partners have monitored them and beginning on March 1 you’ll be able to watch them too via the Richmond Falcon Cam. If you want to keep up with their progress, subscribe to get the latest updates from the nest.
Last year’s falcon pair successfully fledged 4 chicks from their nest box on top of the Riverfront Plaza building. To learn more about this remarkable species scroll through the DWR Falcon Cam webpage to links for more information on the Richmond falcons as well as Peregrine Falcons in Virginia, and the extensive conservation efforts to restore them after their U.S. populations were devastated from 1950 to 1970 by DDT poisoning.
Although not common in Northern Virginia, there have been other successful Peregrine Falcon nest sites. In 2019 ASNV published a story about the falcons who have successfully nested in Reston Town Center since 2015.
Peregrine Falcon, Steven Sachs/Audubon Photography Awards