Falcon parents protected eggs through California storms until all four babies hatched, park officials said.
The peregrine falcon eggs were incubated for about a month on Alcatraz Island near San Francisco, the National Park Service said in an April 12 news release.
The parents tended to the four eggs through “unusually stormy weather” until the chicks hatched in early April, park officials said.
These eggs were first laid in early March in an area that is not accessible to the public, park officials said. Park biologists have been monitoring the birds.
Peregrine falcons are one of the world’s fastest birds and can reach speeds as fast as 200 mph, according to Audubon.
They can be found living in the open country or on coastal cliffs like the ones found on Alcatraz Island.
Alcatraz is a small island that was once used as a military prison and maximum security federal penitentiary from 1934 until 1963, officials said.
Now it’s part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and home to nesting seabirds — and now peregrine falcons, which were first spotted breeding on the island in 2019.
A ferry is the only way to visit Alcatraz Island, which is north of San Francisco.
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