From the moment of her discovery in 1998 of a Peregrine Falcon nest at 55 Water Street, which led to the installation of a webcam, Barbara Saunders, now a member of the Linnaean Society Council, has been captivated by peregrines. Since 2008 she has been a seasonally employed wildlife technician in the peregrine program of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. From late April to mid-May, she monitors approximately twenty pairs of Peregrine Falcons in New York City—the largest concentration of this species in the East—plus several more pairs in Nassau County and on bridges over the Hudson River. Among other things, she finds nests, reports on whether old nests are being used again, rescues fallen chicks and gets injured ones to a rehabilitator, and helps with banding. She will share her experiences, answer questions, and show photographs she has taken—views very few people have ever had of these birds and the city below them.
