Farewell, Phantom: 1991-2015

Phantom, on the gloved hand of one of our animal caretakers. Photo copyright Connecticut Audubon Society

We bid a sad farewell recently to one of the best-known members of our education team – Phantom, a Peregrine Falcon who has been with us since 1991 and who died on Saturday, January 17, just short of his 24th birthday.

Phantom was a familiar presence at school programs and Connecticut Audubon Society presentations, perching wide-eyed but calm on the gloved arms of our education staff, or in his capacious cage in the raptor compound at our Center at Fairfield.

He arrived at Connecticut Audubon from Arizona, where he had flown into a power line and permanently injured his left wing during the summer after he hatched. In the wild, Peregrines can live 16 to 20 years but the longevity record for a captive Peregrine is 25 years, so Phantom was probably one of the oldest Peregrine Falcons in the country.

“He has been here a long time and was such a gentle soul,” Tricia Lombardi, one of our teacher-naturalists, said. She and her colleague Colleen Noyes were among the CAS staff who worked most closely with Phantom in recent years.

Phantom died shortly after our other Peregrine Falcon, Princess, who had been with Connecticut Audubon since 2006. Tricia estimated that between them they participated in 200 education events a year.

They were our only falcons. We now have six birds in our raptor compound.

“He will be truly missed,” Tricia said of Phantom.