Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge - Peregrine Falcon Program

Peregrine Falcon Program

Eastern Virginia has long been a habitat for endangered birds, notably eagles and Peregrine Falcons. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has come to learn that some of its high bridge structures closely match their preferred nesting environment on cliff faces and in high trees.

In an award-winning program, nesting boxes for these rare birds were established in several bridges, including the Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge. Bridge pairs now represent approximately 30 percent of the Virginia Peregrine Falcon population. In a major victory for the endangered species, and VDOT's environmental efforts, in the spring of 2003, nearly a dozen Peregrine Falcon chicks were hatched. Most were taken from their nesting boxes on various VDOT bridges for banding and release.

That spring, three chicks or "eyases" on the Benjamin Harris Bridge on Route 156 over the James River were banded with a transmitter for tracking purposes, and two were released at Shenandoah National Park. Environmentalists like to leave one chick with its parents when possible, but the birds have a better chance of staying alive when released in the wild. One concern is that a falcon learning to fly may not survive a fall onto a bridge or even the water below.

VDOT employees who work on the bridge can see the nesting box on top of the tower from where they work. They can see into the nest when they go up into the tower to work on the mechanisms used to open the drawbridge. The drawbridge is opened on demand sometimes three or four times a day, but some days not at all. The openings do not disturb the Peregrine Falcons. Bridge employees keep the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary informed of the birds' movements.

Peregrine Falcons were listed as federally endangered in 1970 under the Endangered Species Conservation Act. At that time, there were virtually none in the east, and the population in the rest of the country had fallen by 80 to 90 percent. Beginning in the 1970s, a national effort was undertaken to recover breeding populations and to restore the species. Their population has significantly recovered over the past 30 years, thanks to conservation efforts such as VDOT's. Today, more than 1,500 breeding pairs have been counted in the U.S. and Canada.

Along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Conservation Center, VDOT monitors the falcons on each bridge to ensure they and their habitat are doing well. VDOT has even established falcon-specific contract requirements for the Structure and Bridge Division as it continues to identify other nesting sites.

Through placement of nesting boxes on 10 bridges maintained by VDOT, the endangered Peregrine Falcons – considered the world's fastest birds – once again fly high over Virginia's eastern seaboard. Because of the significant role it played in the recovery of the Peregrine Falcon in Virginia, VDOT earned the 1998 Federal Highway Administration Excellence Award in the category of Environment Protection and Enhancements.