Yosemite logs 15 peregrine nests

Yosemite National Park’s peregrine falcon program recorded 15 confirmed nests in 2024, the highest total reported by the park in a single season. (nps.gov) The National Park Service said researchers tracked 17 breeding pairs, counted 23 young falcons, and surveyed 43 cliff sites and 63 historical nest locations. (nps.gov) Those figures differ from some 2026 write-ups that describe 2025 as the record year; Yosemite’s own raptor protection page says the record season on the books was 2024. (nps.gov) (activenorcal.com) Peregrine falcons nest on steep granite walls, and Yosemite closes some climbing routes from March 1 until chicks fledge to reduce disturbance near active nests. (nps.gov) The park says peregrines are highly sensitive during breeding season, so closures can apply to climbing, slacklining, and some nearby visitor use around nesting cliffs. (nps.gov) The recovery is part of a much longer arc. Yosemite says peregrine records are absent from 1949 to 1975, matching the species’ broader decline during the DDT era. (nps.gov) Park managers say active recovery work in Yosemite started in 1978 and included nest monitoring, egg rescue and lab hatching, chick fostering, releases, and habitat protection. (nps.gov) A Yosemite Conservancy release in July 2024 said the number of breeding peregrine pairs had doubled since the formal Peregrine Falcon Protection Program began in 2009. (yosemite.org) That same release said park staff and partners had found new nests and baby falcons in spring 2024, adding to a species that once vanished from Yosemite for more than 30 years. (yosemite.org) (nps.gov) For visitors, the result is a familiar Yosemite tradeoff: more seasonal route closures on famous cliffs, and more peregrines successfully raising chicks above the Valley. (nps.gov 1) (nps.gov 2)