Tarentum Bridge peregrine falcon chicks expected to fledge next week

Tawnya Panizzi TribLive Tue, Jun 9, 2026 • 10:01 AM

The female peregrine falcon that has made a home along the Tarentum Bridge sits on top of the nesting box while three of her four juvenile birds sit nearby. The fourth bird was on the edge of the box and stuck out its head periodically. (Courtesy of Dave Brooke)

Four baby peregrine falcons are expected to fledge from their nest under the Tarentum Bridge by the end of next week.

It brings the number of hatchlings to 31 for the mama bird which makes its home in a man-made box installed by the state game commission in 2015 on the bridge’s second pier, near the New Kensington side.

“They hatched on May 3,” said Harrison resident Dave Brooke, a member of the Friends of Harrison Hills who has monitored the falcons since 2018 and reported his findings to the game commission.

“It was late for this female by at least a week.”

Last year, Brooke spotted the first chicks in mid-April, and they fledged around the end of May.

Incubation typically lasts up to 35 days. They are tended to by their parents for another 40 days or so while they prepare to take flight.

It’s an exciting time for bird enthusiasts as the Tarentum Bridge nest is significant to the health of the peregrine falcon species across the region.

The birds were previously listed on the federal and state endangered species lists after pesticides like DDT wiped out their populations in the mid-1960s. There were about 44 pairs of peregrine falcons before they disappeared from Pennsylvania in the first half of the 20^th century.

Decades of work has led to a recovery in the numbers to the point where it is secure, according to the game commission.

Peregrines were removed from the state’s endangered species list in 2021, a few years after the birds started breeding in Tarentum.

According to The National Aviary, the six nests in Allegheny County that were recorded during the Audubon Christmas Bird Count in December is the highest number ever.

Brooke said the Tarentum peregrines have an abundant food source with the number of pigeons and sparrows around the rivers.

But there’s a new threat to the birds that experts are tracking.

The avian flu has been confirmed in more than 50 dead Peregrines nationwide since 2023, according to the USDA.

Avian experts fear that the actual number is much higher, according to the website.

In Tarentum, the birds will face another obstacle next year with construction work planned on the bridge.

PennDOT officials are working with the game commission to protect the falcons during a three-year, $97.5 million rehab project.

Early safeguards have been proposed to include no work to be done within 1,000 feet of the falcon box until after breeding and nesting season.