Transfer of peregrine falcon eggs to Mercier Bridge has sad ending

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QUEBEC — A much-publicized attempt to transfer rare peregrine falcon eggs from a bridge under construction in Trois-Rivières to adoptive parents on the Mercier Bridge has been a failure.

Officials confirmed “with regret” that none of the four bird eggs delicately moved May 9 from Laviolette Bridge to the Montreal-area bridge hatched. There will be no fuzzy baby falcons to thrill bird lovers who had been able to follow the eggs’ progress on live cameras.

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The operation was risky to begin with. Two of the eggs disappeared within two weeks of being put in the nesting box on the Mercier Bridge where two adult peregrine falcons lived.

Even with cameras, it is difficult to say what happened to the eggs, Transport and Sustainable Mobility spokesperson Gilles Payer said in a message to The Gazette late Friday. Experts have floated the theory the two fell out of the box after getting stuck to the resident birds because of humidity.

Although the Laviolette Bridge eggs were deemed fertile by biologists working for the specialized firm handling the transfer for the ministry, Falcon Environmental, the two remaining eggs did not hatch.

They were abandoned by the adoptive parents, who themselves had produced non-fertile eggs this spring.

Biologists speculated the eggs may have had genetic defects or the adoptive parents did not correctly cover the eggs to keep them warm, Payer said.

The fact humans handled the eggs could also have been a factor in them not hatching, officials concede. The eggs were taken from their Laviolette Bridge parents because they were too close to the massive construction project underway on the bridge.

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“It is thus a sad outcome of an operation designed to give the eggs the best possible chance, which does not mean the operation itself was a bad decision,” Payer said.

“It is not possible to know whether the eggs would have hatched left untouched on the Laviolette Bridge without human intervention, given the hazards of the wild and the possibility of genetic defects.”

Payer stressed the ministry sought the guidance of specialists at Falcon Environmental, which has a successful track record with such operations, although such a daring transfer was a first.

“Everyone had confidence in the process,” Payer said, adding the ministry takes steps every year to avoid conflicts between wildlife and construction sites.

The fastest birds in the world, peregrine falcons have nested for years on the Laviolette and Mercier bridges, but this is the first time the ministry has tried a switch.

Payer said it initially looked like the transfer would work because the adoptive parents keenly took to their parenting duties when the eggs arrived.

But bird lovers started wondering about the eggs when it appeared several were missing on the YouTube channel where progress was monitored. At one point recently, only one egg was visible.

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The federal Crown corporation that manages the Champlain, Jacques-Cartier and Mercier bridges has issued statements in the past on successful peregrine falcon events, noting recently that since 2011, 34 “perfectly healthy baby falcons” have hatched on its structures.

Considered a vulnerable species by the government of Quebec, peregrine falcons had declined to near extinction in most areas of the world. Studies linked their failure to reproduce to contamination by pesticides, especially DDT, which causes eggshell thinning.

Thrilling to watch in action, the predators made a comeback on every continent, but are closely monitored by wildlife officials around the world.

Even if they survived DDT, peregrines today face other manmade perils. A recent study showed the birds carry higher levels of toxic flame retardants than any other animal in North America — possibly more than any other in the world.

pauthier@postmedia.com

twitter.com/philipauthier

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