Second Peregrine Chick Dies In Seattle

A second ailing peregrine falcon chick has died after being brought to the Woodland Park Zoo from its downtown skyscraper home.

The zoo said Friday that preliminary necropsy findings showed a small piece of meat stuck in the female chick’s trachea. The chick died suddenly Thursday night.

The sickly chick was brought to the zoo on June 15 from a nest atop the 54-story Washington Mutual Tower. She was being treated for a chronic mouth infection and was also emaciated and dehydrated.

Senior veterinarian Dr. Janis Joslin said the bird’s appetite had improved a couple of days ago and she started tearing into a quail carcass after her regular tube-feeding.

She was the second chick to die from a family of three hatched atop the bank tower in May. The other chick brought to the zoo for treatment had to be euthanized last week. That chick, also a female, had an infected jaw wound that did not respond to treatment.

The remaining male juvenile remains in the nest with his parents, Stewart and Belle.

He appears healthy and is flying strongly, pursuing other birds as potential prey, the zoo said in a statement.