Sagrada Família peregrine chicks fledge, ending Barcelona breeding season
The Sagrada Família’s peregrine chicks have fledged, and the Barcelona webcam is closing after a season that added to a tally of 54 basilica-born chicks since 2005.
The peregrine falcon chicks at the Sagrada Família have taken flight, closing out another breeding season at one of Barcelona’s most closely watched urban nests. With the young birds fledged, live images from the basilica’s nest stopped on June 5, ending the webcam feed that let viewers follow every stage of the nesting cycle in real time.
The season’s finish marked a neat milestone for a project that has turned a cathedral tower into a working perch for one of the city’s sharpest predators. Barcelona City Council and Galanthus Natura launched the peregrine reintroduction effort in 1999, after the species had vanished from Barcelona in the 1970s. Adult peregrines first settled in one of the Sagrada Família towers in 2003, and the basilica says it was chosen because it was among the last places the birds nested and successfully raised young in the city.
The numbers now show how firmly the species has returned. According to the Sagrada Família’s project page, 54 chicks were born at the basilica between 2005 and 2025. Barcelona City Council says more than 250 peregrine falcons have hatched across the city since the project began, and current council materials put Barcelona’s total at eight breeding pairs, each using nests in different locations.
For falconers and urban wildlife watchers, the Sagrada Família nest has become more than a novelty. The live webcam has functioned as a public education tool, giving a clear view of courtship, incubation, hatching and fledging while helping raise awareness of a species that once disappeared from the city skyline. It has also shown how a high-profile urban landmark can serve as a practical piece of reintroduction infrastructure, not just a backdrop.
As the cameras go dark for the year, the nest leaves behind another clean season record: fledged chicks, a finished feed, and one more reminder that the peregrine’s return to Barcelona is no longer a comeback story in progress, but a pattern that keeps repeating above the basilica’s towers.
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