Thursday, May 8, 2025
Speaker: Tim Gallagher, Editor, Living Bird magazine (retired)
The Peregrine Falcon eyrie at Taughannock Falls State Park is one of the most famous falcon nests in the world, thanks to a photograph ornithologist Arthur Allen took in 1926. In the picture, an adult Peregrine is perched on a limb in front of the waterfall with her chicks on a ledge nearby. Tim Gallagher first saw the picture in an old copy of A.C. Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey when he was twelve years old and already a falcon fanatic. He’s loved it ever since. Years later, in 1990, when he came to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to be interviewed for the editor position at Living Bird, he asked if someone could take him to Taughannock Falls so he could see this place that had such a special hold on him. It was a profound experience but also sad, because the falcons had not nested there since 1946—early victims of DDT which eventually caused the Peregrine Falcon population to crash across North America. The falcons finally started nesting in Taughannock Gorge again in 2020, after a 74-year absence. In his illustrated talk, Tim will discuss the fascinating history of the Taughannock Peregrine eyrie—from when it was found by famed Ithaca bird artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes in 1909 to the present.
Tim Gallagher is an award-winning author, wildlife photographer, and magazine editor. He served as editor-in-chief of Living Bird, the flagship publication of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, for more than 25 years and was one of the founding editors of WildBird magazine. Tim got his first field guide at the age of eight and has been obsessively watching birds ever since. He is the author of several books, including Parts Unknown, Wild Bird Photography, The Grail Bird, Falcon Fever, and Imperial Dreams, and is co-author of several more.
Look for the Zoom link in your email a few days prior to the meeting. The Zoom Room will open at 6:45 PM. Don’t wait until the last minute to sign on, you might be left out!
