View from the Aerie: Peregrine Falcon Watch in 2025

Spotting scope setup in the Precipice Trailhead Parking Area.

NPS Photo by Molly Mays

June 17th-20th

This week in Acadia marks the official beginning of summer, and with it comes the Peregrine Falcon Watch! Every year, breeding pairs of Peregrines swoop into the cliffs of Acadia to hatch and nurture their young. Right on cue this year, a pair of Peregrines claimed the Precipice Trail along the cliff face of Champlain Mountain to host their family. The pair has two chicks this year, right now around 32 days old. Because the falcons are so territorial, human disturbance can create stress for them and sometimes lead them to abandon their nests. To give these birds a better chance of success, trails near Peregrine nesting sites are closed annually until the chicks are fully independent of their parents. These trail closures include Valley Cove, Jordan Cliffs and Penobscot East Trail, and the home of the Peregrine Falcon Watch: Precipice Trail. Visitors can drop by the Precipice Trailhead parking lot for the Peregrine Falcon Watch Program every Monday-Friday from 9:00 AM-11:30 AM. With the help of park rangers and I, you’ll be able to see the chicks (eyases) growing up right on the cliffside. I’m Jazmine, a Student Conservation Association intern at Acadia and I’m thrilled to be your guide to the Peregrine Falcon Watch for the 2025 season.

Acadia’s park rangers and biologists have been keeping an eye out for the Peregrines and their nesting habits since the middle of spring. So far, we’ve seen the birds putting on quite the show at Precipice! In the past month, the adult falcons have been keen to show off their speed as they glide along the cliff’s edge and over our heads. The ledge where they’ve been spending most of their time is their scrape; instead of building what we think of as a bird’s “nest”, Peregrine Falcons lay their eggs directly on rocky, elevated surfaces to get a good vantage point of prey and protection from predators. The two eyases in the scrape have the Peregrine parents on high alert right now. We’ve heard the territorial birds loudly chase off some feathered intruders (Turkey Vultures and Broad-Winged Hawks) each time they get too close for comfort.

For the past few days, the falcons have evaded being spotted with not even one glimpse of them in the scopes! The hot sun on Monday and rain on Tuesday may have had the falcons ducking for cover on the mountain. These hungry birds are also voracious predators that can fly up to 15 miles to catch their prey, so they could have been out hunting for their next meal. Hopefully the conditions will improve for the Peregrine Falcon Watch Program next week, and soon we’ll be ready for the eyases to begin putting on a show of their own!