Friends of the Forest Volunteers Assist the National Forest Service with Peregrine Falcon Monitoring

Sedona’s Friends of the Forest is always available to lend a hand for Red Rock Ranger District projects. Recently the Arizona Fish and Game Department contacted Janie Agyagois, Red Rock District Wildlife Manager, requesting assistance on a U.S Fish and Wildlife Department project to monitor all of the known peregrine falcon nesting sites in Arizona. Since the Sedona area is home to thirteen of the approximately 500 known peregrine falcon nesting pairs in the U.S. , Agyagois put out a call to the Friends for assistance.

In response to Agyagois’ request, Friends of the Forest members Chuck Jenkins, the current President, Kevin Harding, Rick Zabor, Julie Pawelak, Kevin Harding, Lee Luedeker, Susi Mac Vean, Mike Ward, the current Vice President, Al Cornell, and Mike Vitek volunteered to spend a four-hour period once a month for four months observing. The first observation in March was to verify the falcons had returned to the nesting sites. The April observation was to try to identify the location of the nest, termed an eyrie, while the May and June observations are to document the success of the fledglings.

Peregrine falcons are medium-sized hawks with long pointed wings, roughly raven-sized -- about 15 to 21 inches long -- with a wingspan of about 40 inches. They generally reach breeding maturity at 2 years of age. Usually, the male arrives at a nesting site and begins a series of aerial acrobatic displays to attract a mate. An average clutch of four eggs is laid in April, hatching about a month later.

Preferring nesting sites 200 to 300 feet above the ground, the cliffs of Sedona offer an ideal location for nesting peregrine falcons. Their eyrie is little more than a scrape or depression dug in gravel on a cliff ledge. Peregrine falcons feed primarily on other birds, such as cliff sparrows, canyon wrens, songbirds, ducks, and in urban areas, starlings and pigeons

If you are interested in becoming involved the Friends or for more information about the Friends of the Forest, you are invited to contact the Red Rock Ranger Station at (928) 282-4119 and also visit our website at www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org.