The event will be livestreamed at 10:00 a.m. on the DEP Facebook page and DEP PAcast webpage.
“For over two decades, peregrine falcons have nested on the Rachel Carson State Office Building in downtown Harrisburg – the longest active nest site in Pennsylvania,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “It’s fitting that so many falcons have been born and raised on the building that bears Rachel Carson’s name.”
Patti Barber, Endangered Bird Specialist with PGC, will lead the team in bringing the nestlings in from the 15th floor ledge.
Barber will weigh them, inspect their health, and put light metal bands around their legs for identification.
This year there are three nestlings that will be banded. Not all of the falcons will be banded on the livestream.
Falcon banding helps wildlife biologists to track the birds and allows birdwatchers from all over the world an opportunity to learn more about the peregrine’s flight patterns and where they establish new nesting sites.
Falcons born on the ledge at the Rachel Carson State Office Building have been identified up and down the Atlantic coast, from Florida to Canada. Birdwatchers can report bands they see to ReportBand.gov.
The peregrine falcon was removed from the federal Endangered Species List in 1999 and the Pennsylvania Threatened List in 2021, but remains federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Pennsylvania Game and Wildlife Code.
Learning To Fly
In the coming weeks, the young falcons will begin learning to fly.
Volunteers with the Falcon Watch and Rescue monitor the falcons and recover them as they land near the Rachel Carson State Office Building.
Anyone interested in joining the Falcon Watch and Rescue volunteers should contact Sue Hannon at hbgfalconwatch@gmail.com.
Since 2000, a total of 100 eggs have hatched, making the Rachel Carson State Office Building nest site the longest, continuously successful nest site in the Commonwealth.
Visit the DEP PA Falcon Cam webpage for more information.
Click Here for the DEP announcement.
Connection To Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907, in Springdale, Allegheny County, a small town north of Pittsburgh. As an adult, Carson worked for the government as a scientist and writer.
Carson studied the role of poisons in the environment. Her book, "Silent Spring," published in 1962, addressed the dangers posed by DDT.
The evidence was undisputedly conclusive that DDT interfered with calcium metabolism in birds at the top of the food chain.
With no mechanism to excrete or breakdown DDT, birds at the top of the food chain accumulated DDT as they ate smaller birds, which, in turn, ate insects exposed to DDT.
This is called bioaccumulation. The interference with calcium metabolism caused thinning eggshells that broke easily.
Peregrine falcons, bald eagles and ospreys that are making an impressive comeback thanks to the environmental ethics and foreword thinking of people like Rachel Carson.
It is a happy irony, indeed, that these peregrine falcons chose to reside on the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, which was named in her honor.
Click Here to watch a WITF/PA Conservation Heritage Project documentary on Rachel Carson.
Visit the Rachel Carson Homestead website for more information on her life and accomplishments.
Resource Link:
-- Guest Essay: In Praise Of Rachel Carson And Public Service; Happy Birthday Rachel Carson! - By James M. Seif, Former Secretary, Department of Environmental Protection [PaEN]
[Posted: May 27, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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