SerpApi.Org
A trained falcon that disappeared from the Ocean City Boardwalk nearly a month ago has been reunited with its handlers after being discovered perched atop Shore Medical Center in Somers Point.
Trico, one of the working falcons employed by East Coast Falcons, vanished after his tracking transmitter failed.
Ocean City uses trained falcons, hawks and an owl to keep aggressive seagulls and other nuisance birds away from people.
The city launched the bird-abatement program in 2019 after increasing complaints about seagulls harassing tourists and snatching pizza, fries and other food directly from their hands.
Trico’s handlers spent weeks searching for him as reported sightings surfaced and then fizzled out.
The falcon was finally located July 1 after Shore Medical’s credentialing specialist Danette Quinn noticed an unusually large bird peering through a fourth-floor window, according to a hospital statement on July 2.
“Danette called a few of us over,” said Valerie DeJoseph, Shore’s director of quality. “Soon enough, just like we do at Shore, everyone started working together to figure out what to do and get this bird help.”
While the group of employees tried to identify the bird, Mike Smith, clinical director of Shore’s Pediatric Care Center, remembered seeing a Facebook post about a missing Ocean City Boardwalk falcon.
Smith tracked down the social media post, then called Erik Swanson, owner of East Coast Falcons.
Swanson and falconer Angelina Caselli headed to the hospital.
Shore Medical carpenter Mike Kellerman and painter Steve Lesniewski escorted Caselli to a second-floor window, where she climbed onto a ledge, blew a whistle, and tossed a lure onto the roof.
Trico flew right to her.
After rewarding Trico with a bite of quail, the handler was unable to climb back through the window safely while holding Trico.
Instead, she passed the bird — perched on her falconry glove — to Lesniewski and went back inside.
Swanson said the hospital roof offered everything a falcon would need during an extended stay.
“It offers shaded ledges, fresh water condensation from the AC systems, one of the highest vantage points around to spot prey, and plenty of his favorite birds nearby — crows, sparrows, pigeons,” Swanson said in the statement. “In fact, Trico was pretty fat when we got him back. Now that I think about it, why didn’t we think to look there?”
Before returning to work on the Ocean City Boardwalk, Trico was expected to undergo a veterinary examination and to shed some extra weight to return to his ideal flying condition.
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