Mystic — Maggie Jones, the executive director of the Denison Pequotsepos Center found herself slowly navigating the catwalk along the Thames River railroad bridge in New London last Tuesday.

Carrying a net and bird carrier and wearing an orange Amtrak safety vest, she could see the surface of the river 40 feet below through the open grating.

As she walked, she searched for a juvenile peregrine falcon that reportedly had crashed into a utility wire and was now injured on the bridge.

Jones soon spotted the falcon perched precariously on the edge of a beam next to the catwalk. If it fell backwards, it would plummet into the river. If it toppled forward, it would descend into a mass of steel girders. Either could happen if the falcon was spooked by Jones and would likely led to its death.

As she neared the falcon, the alarm calls of the falcon’s parents could be heard over the roar of the traffic on the adjacent Gold Star Memorial Bridge.

“I knew I had one shot to get it,” she said about her successful netting of the bird.

As she put the falcon in the carrier, she said she could tell it was “chubby and strong” indicating it had recently eaten. One of the bird’s wings had been mangled and its feathers singed by the electrical current.

She initially took the bird to New England Veterinary Hospital in Mystic because of its expertise with birds and it has now been transferred to Tufts University veterinary school for surgery and close monitoring.

Jones hopes the bird can return to the nature center to continue its rehabilitation.

At this point she said the falcon seem to be alert and doing pretty well but she said the surgery at Tufts will be complicated.

“It’s doubtful it will fly again but it’s young so you don’t know,” she said.

Jones said she learned about the bird being on the bridge after receiving a call from an Amtrak employee who said someone reported seeing the bird fly into the wires and crash into the bridge. She said peregrine falcons have been nesting under the Gold Star bridge for about a decade, and it was likely this fledgling’s first foray out of the nest.

When the falcon returns to the nature center it will join the center’s resident peregrine falcon “Perry” who has been there 15 years after his wing was nearly sliced off in a collision with a utility wire along Interstate 95 in North Haven. His wing had to be amputated but he has served as an educational ambassador at the center.

“We want to do what best for the bird,” she said about the new falcon.

Jones said many people are unaware that peregrine falcons, which were once classified as an endangered species but have now made a strong comeback, also live in urban areas such as New London where they nest on high rise buildings and bridges instead of rocky ledges. They feed on pigeons, starlings and other birds that they catch by diving at speeds of 175 miles per hour which is why collisions with utility wires are so devastating.

In New London, where Jones leads bird tours each year, she said the city waterfront provides a rich food sources for the falcons.

j.wojtas@theday.com