Falcon Chicks Move From Military Base To College Campus
LOWELL (CBS) - UMass Lowell has some new additions to its campus -- falcon chicks.
On Tuesday, state wildlife officials brought two male peregrine falcon chicks from their nest at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee to UMass Lowell, where they will live with a family of the birds atop the university's Fox Hall, the tallest building in Lowell, where a pair of adult falcons has nested for a decade.
Senior Endangered Species Biologist David Paulson and Wildlife Rehabilitator Jessica Zorge relocated the chicks from the military installation to help ensure their safety away from the airport.
Each chick, along with a four-week-old female falcon hatched in Lowell, was fitted with an ID band that will help biologists track the birds wherever they go.
More than 27 falcons hatched at UMass Lowell over the past decade have fledged and established other nests in New England and beyond.