Could a Flying Wallenda meet a flying falcon?

There’s a “good possibility’’ a pair of nesting falcons at Niagara Falls could attack daredevil high-wire walker Nik Wallenda as he attempts a crossing over the famous waterway on June 15, say Mark and Marion Nash, spokespeople for the Canadian Peregrine Foundation.

Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the circus and daredevil performers known as the Great Wallendas and the Flying Wallendas, will be crossing right through a major flight path used by the falcons, said Marion Nash.

More: The science behind Nik Wallenda’s high-wire walk over Niagara Falls

The pair nest in the gorge of a decommissioned Ontario Power Generation plant, she said, and they will have babies in the nest, though it will be too early for them to be flying.

However, peregrine falcons — a species at risk in Canada — are “very protective’’ and it’s possible they could attack Wallenda as he crosses, she said.

“They go 360 kilometres an hour — he could get a 2-pound missile attacking at the back of his neck,’’ said Marion Nash, who was attending the banding of four fuzzy, peregrine falcon babies who nest on a 43rd floor ledge of the downtown Sheraton Centre Hotel with their parents.

The Niagara Falls peregrines “may take huge offence — they’ll be patrolling their air space,’’ said Mark Nash, adding it’s also possible the pair may not feel threatened. “Who knows what will happen?’’

The Nashes say they alerted Natural Resources ministry staff about the dangers of a possible attack and suggested that Wallenda put off the crossing until September.

But the tightrope crossing is going ahead.

More: Nik Wallenda’s tightrope walk over the Niagara Gorge set for June 15

Wallenda recently reluctantly agreed to a safety tether being attached to the tightrope going across the Falls, at the insistence of ABC television which is producing a three-hour special about the event.

There was no response to a Star request for comment from Wallenda’s manager, Winston Simone.

Meanwhile, on the ledge of the Sheraton, all is well in the local falcon world.

The adult pair, Tiago (male) and Rea May (female), which have nested at the site for about seven years, have four healthy babies, two males and two females, ranging in age from 19 to 24 days.

Through a small hatch in the wall, the babies were plucked from the ledge by a Natural Resources ministry biologist and examined, weighed and banded, before being put back. Bursts of fierce squawking were interrupted only by volunteers on hand squirting water in their beaks to keep them hydrated.

They are expected to start flying around the age of 40 days. The early days of flight are risky, said Marion Nash, because the chicks are still pudgy and their flight muscles are not fully developed. Volunteer “fledge watchers’’ keep a close eye on them in case a rescue is needed.

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to the restoration and recovery of endangered and threatened birds of prey in Canada.

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