Rangers at Acadia National Park cited 5 people this spring for hiking in Acadia on a closed trail, as the park steps up efforts to protect peregrine falcons following decade-low numbers of chicks that flew from nests the past two years in the park.
National Park Service signs, posted at the foot of the Precipice Trail in Acadia National Park, warn that hikers can cause peregrine falcon nests to fail. The Precipice Trail is among several trails closed each year between March and mid-August to protect nesting falcons.
The crack down comes amid new concerns about protecting the falcons from people hiking in Acadia. One possible red flag: Acadia was home to the only peregrine falcon nest that failed last year among 26 nests in Maine, according to the Maine Peregrine Falcon Program Report for 2024.
The nest that failed last year was at Valley Cove in Acadia. Also, only three chicks fledged in 2024 in the park and four in 2023, down from an average of about seven a year, according to park statistics and park press releases.
A lot of factors, including weather, predators like the great horned owl, behaviors of individual birds and annoyance by people, can affect the very fragile process of breeding by peregrine falcons, officials said.
A peregrine falcon chick is banded near a nest at the Precipice in an earlier year, before recent concerns about a drop in chicks successfully fledging in Acadia, possibly as a result of rogue hikers on closed trails during falcon nesting season. (Photo by Keith Wozniak/Acadia National Park)