Nature Done Wright

Yesterday in the Mohonk Preserve near New Paltz, N.Y., Chris Nadareski of the NYC DEP released four young rehabbed peregrines, one at a time.

Two dozen onlookers watched in awe as the falcons sprang from his gloved hand and soared for the time.

I had known one of the fab four falcons from a distance for several months – ever since I helped monitor a pair of nesting peregrines in North Jersey. The young falcon wore a leg band stamped BN 79, but to those who know her best, she will always be known as Mary Ann.

On this picture-perfect day in early September, she was the first to be released, and she took to the sky with all the grace and power that peregrine lovers have long admired about these magnificent creatures.

That was a far cry from the first time I spied her through binoculars. She was a little white fuzzball back then, sticking her head out from the nest site. Every week, I’d watch her and her two siblings grow bigger and bigger until they fledged and flew – except she didn’t quite.

Don Torino and Tammy Laverty of the Bergen County Audubon Society, who did the lion’s share of the nest monitoring, found her one morning, barely able to get off the ground. She was perched atop a small motorboat that resembled the S.S. Minnow in “Gilligan’s Island.”

In honor of a character on that classic TV show, Tammy and Don named her Mary Ann. With the help of Chris Takacs, they rescued her, and Tammy brought her to the Franklin Lakes Animal Hospital, where she was treated and brought to The Raptor Trust in Millington, N.J., for more than a month of TLC and flight lessons.

Then came yesterday’s moment in the sun. Transported by Gaby Schmitt, one of The Raptor Trust’s trusty bird transporters, Mary Ann arrived at Mohonk in a ventilated crate. Chris Nadareski introduced her and then let her go. She took off like a bullet and passed her biggest test with flying colors.

Helped by plenty of caring humans along the way, Mary Ann is now free and on her own, heading for points unknown.

Chris Nadareski of the NYC DEP at the Mohonk Preserve yesterday.

One of the young peregrines glides past

Photo by Tammy Laverty. Mary Ann and her siblings in their younger days.

Photo by Don Torino. Mary Ann and her siblings getting ready to fledge.

Chris Nadareski, Mary Ann and The Raptor Trust’s Gaby Schmitt.

The peregrine release drew a nice crowd at the Mohonk Preserve.