Category: Updates

The female laid the second egg early this morning! The pair will continue to take shifts to partially incubate the eggs until they have a full clutch. At times the eggs will be left alone, so don’t be alarmed by this.

When adults exchange nest duties, the eggs are repositioned and rolled. Egg three will be laid in another day or two and then the fourth early next week.

Frida and Mango welcome spring with their first egg of the season laid early this morning on March 19, 2023 in the perigloo that sits atop the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth.  Peregrine falcons can lay up to four eggs and will begin incubation of their eggs after the last one has been laid.  The eggs are laid a day or two apart.  Stay tuned for the next egg expected on March 20 or 21.

Frida and Mango display courtship behavior at the nest (perigloo) on top of the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth.

Union County Commissioners Christopher Hudak and Kimberly Palmieri-Mouded with Liz Silvernail, Director of NJ Conserve Wildlife Foundation, look on as the first of three Peregrine falcon chicks are banded in the Union County Courthouse. Kathy Clark, of New Jersey Fish and Wildlife, is placing a band on the leg of a three and a half week old chick that hatched on the top of the courthouse. Each falcon chick will have a unique banding code that makes it easier to identify them in the wild. By banding the falcons, NJ biologists can track how long these birds live, how far they travel, their parents and siblings and where they were hatched.

An oriole for lunch! Followed by one of the babies venturing outside the igloo.

Kathy Clark from DEP NJ Fish & Wildlife, Cathy H. Malok from Raptor Trust in Millington and Union County staff went up to the roof of the Courthouse to medicate the young falcons for trichomoniasis as a precautionary measure. In about 3 weeks we will be back for an official banding of the babies.

Frida takes a break from incubating the eggs and Mango takes over.