5 Falcon Chicks Hatched At UMass Lowell Receive ID Bands

LOWELL, MA —Five peregrine falcon chicks hatched at UMass Lowell this spring have been fitted with identification bands that will allow wildlife biologists to track the birds throughout their lives.

The chicks — two females and three males — hatched in May in a nest box atop Fox Hall, the tallest building in Lowell. On Monday, biologists from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Wildlife and Endangered Species Unit visited the university to assess the birds' health, determine their sex and discuss their habitat and diet.

Subscribe

During the visit, biologists removed the chicks from the nest box and fitted them with numbered metal bands. A silver band enrolls the birds in a federal tracking program, while a green band connects them to a regional monitoring effort. The bands will help conservationists track the falcons during their typical 10-year lifespan.

The chicks were returned to the nest box about an hour later and are expected to leave for new territory in August.

Chalis Bird, the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's northeast district wildlife biologist, led the banding session and thanked volunteers who monitor the nest box throughout the year.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Massachusetts' peregrine falcon banding and restoration program. Peregrine falcons disappeared from nesting sites in the eastern United States by the mid-1960s and were federally listed as endangered. Population recovery efforts began after the pesticide DDT was banned in 1972.

Today, peregrine falcons in Massachusetts are classified as a species of special concern.

UMass Lowell staff, students and volunteers attended the banding session. The event also highlighted the university's student chapter of The Wildlife Society, which was formed this spring and has attracted 35 members.

A pair of peregrine falcons has nested on Fox Hall since at least 2007. University officials installed the nest box after the birds were discovered on the building's roof.

More than 50 peregrine falcon chicks have been raised at the site over the past 19 years. According to the university, some birds hatched in Lowell have gone on to establish nests in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

State wildlife biologists identified 40 nesting pairs of peregrine falcons across Massachusetts in 2025.