How are bridges important as bird habitat?
Some species just use the bridges for roosting or perching, others use them for nesting. Peregrine falcons, which use bridges for nesting, roosting and foraging, were recovered from the brink of extinction in part through the establishment of populations in urban areas. Other species like the barn owls are suffering from a shortage of natural nest sites and are finding our bridges suitable as nesting areas. Still others, like the pelagic cormorant, have begun nesting on WSDOT bridges, as biologists believe, in order to keep their young safe from bald eagles, which are predators in the cormorant’s natural nesting colony sites. One of the state’s bridges is supporting the largest pelagic cormorant colony in the state.
