This information has been edited from stories that originally appeared in the spring 2005 and 2006 editions of the Kenosha, Wis. News.
Rare, wild peregrine falcons
raised a family in an outside nest box at Kenosha Hospital and Medical Center in spring and summer 2006.
This was the first time this, or any, species of raptor successfully hatched young there since the box was installed 14 years earlier, said Greg Septon, founder of the non-profit Wisconsin Peregrine Trust and now an independent researcher.
Two falcons laid eggs in 2005 at the hospital but they didn't hatch.
Septon said the box was one of many set on tall structures along a 200-mile stretch of Lake Michigan's west shoreline for the birds of prey. Height is important for the boxes because the birds would be far from human interference, among other advantages.
The plan grew out of a peregrine recovery program that began in 1987. Septon said the program led to the release of hundreds of falcons bred in captivity. All the falcons in the Midwest today are descendants of those birds, he said.
Peregrine falcons and other birds - notably bald eagles - were dying out in the 1960s because of a chemical called DDT. The chemical thinned out eggshells so they cracked easily.
Septon said that by 1964, the last recorded nesting peregrine falcon pair in the eastern United States was in Wisconsin. Peregrine falcons were placed on the state and federal endangered species lists in the 1970s, Septon said. They recently were removed from the federal list but still remain on the Wisconsin list.
Septon said that by spring 2006, there were 26 nesting pairs in Wisconsin.
The 2006 hospital brood included four chicks, all of which fledged. Septon banded them and their mother to keep track of their travels. Two were seen and heard in downtown Kenosha in fall 2006. Hospital personnel reported that one juvenile falcon flew into a hospital window and was killed.
Septon has been banding falcon chicks from a nest box on the stack at the WE Energies' Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Power Plant since 1997.
Septon was aware of concerns that the birds might be affected by pollution from stack emissions. He said his studies showed that toxic mercury, a by-product of coal-fired power plants, was present in peregrine eggs. However, he added, another study indicated the level of mercury was not any greater than in peregrines in other parts of the country.
Hospital visitors didn't need to worry about the birds, who use sharp curved beaks and talons to catch and eat their food. Septon said the falcons and humans can live together.
There's no lack of food for falcons around the hospital, he said. The falcons eat other birds, something that some people don't like because that prey includes songbirds.
Rare, wild peregrine falcons
raised a family in an outside nest box at Kenosha Hospital and Medical Center in spring and summer 2006.
This was the first time this, or any, species of raptor successfully hatched young there since the box was installed 14 years earlier, said Greg Septon, founder of the non-profit Wisconsin Peregrine Trust and now an independent researcher.
Two falcons laid eggs in 2005 at the hospital but they didn't hatch.
Septon said the box was one of many set on tall structures along a 200-mile stretch of Lake Michigan's west shoreline for the birds of prey. Height is important for the boxes because the birds would be far from human interference, among other advantages.
The plan grew out of a peregrine recovery program that began in 1987. Septon said the program led to the release of hundreds of falcons bred in captivity. All the falcons in the Midwest today are descendants of those birds, he said.
Peregrine falcons and other birds - notably bald eagles - were dying out in the 1960s because of a chemical called DDT. The chemical thinned out eggshells so they cracked easily.
Septon said that by 1964, the last recorded nesting peregrine falcon pair in the eastern United States was in Wisconsin. Peregrine falcons were placed on the state and federal endangered species lists in the 1970s, Septon said. They recently were removed from the federal list but still remain on the Wisconsin list.
Septon said that by spring 2006, there were 26 nesting pairs in Wisconsin.
The 2006 hospital brood included four chicks, all of which fledged. Septon banded them and their mother to keep track of their travels. Two were seen and heard in downtown Kenosha in fall 2006. Hospital personnel reported that one juvenile falcon flew into a hospital window and was killed.
Septon has been banding falcon chicks from a nest box on the stack at the WE Energies' Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Power Plant since 1997.
Septon was aware of concerns that the birds might be affected by pollution from stack emissions. He said his studies showed that toxic mercury, a by-product of coal-fired power plants, was present in peregrine eggs. However, he added, another study indicated the level of mercury was not any greater than in peregrines in other parts of the country.
Hospital visitors didn't need to worry about the birds, who use sharp curved beaks and talons to catch and eat their food. Septon said the falcons and humans can live together.
There's no lack of food for falcons around the hospital, he said. The falcons eat other birds, something that some people don't like because that prey includes songbirds.
Peregrine Falcons
Look out below
Peregrine falcons are the fastest birds on earth. They search for prey by circling high in the sky and then diving at speeds of up to 200 mph, zeroing in on a target and knocking it silly, then catching it as it falls.
Peregrine falcons are the fastest birds on earth. They search for prey by circling high in the sky and then diving at speeds of up to 200 mph, zeroing in on a target and knocking it silly, then catching it as it falls.
Peregrine falcon researcher Greg Septon (above) approaches a nesting box on a roof of the Kenosha Hospital to remove a mother falcon and her four chicks for banding. The father falcon, to his right, is extending his wings to appear more threatening in hopes of scaring away the intruder. Septon wears a thick coat, heavy gloves and a helmut in case the birds use their needle-like talons against him, which has happened. Above right, Septon removes one of the chicks from a carrier. Septon's work always attracts a crowd. Notice the woman's reaction at the far left as she sees one of the chicks for the first time. The chick looks warily at Septon's banding and testing instruments, above right: syringes to draw blood for testing, pliers to snap the bands on, and the black, green and brown bands themselves. A towel is being placed over its head to calm it. Both legs are banded for tracing their travels when captured elsewhere. Blood is drawn for, among other things, DNA testing. Septon said all Midwest peregrine falcons are descendants from a group released in the late 1990s as part of a recovery program. After being prepared, the chicks are placed on the floor so hospital employees can photograph them. Notice the one chick decides not to sit still and say cheese.
"But birds do what birds do," said Septon. "Some eat seed, some eat other birds and some eat dead flesh off animals on the roadside. To be upset with that is to be upset with the way nature has things sorted out."
Septon said preserving falcons is important for people and the environment.
"Peregrines were part of the natural landscape for eons," he said. "Then we came along and mucked things up."
Septon said preserving falcons is important for people and the environment.
"Peregrines were part of the natural landscape for eons," he said. "Then we came along and mucked things up."
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Peregrine Falcon chick banding
Click here * to see the Ohio Dept. of Wildlife nest cam and video of
chicks being banded. The video shows retrieving chicks from a downtown Columbus building nestbox, leg banding, a blood draw -- and plenty of screaming by the 3-week-old birds. Watch the entire 7 minute show to see the chicks being returned and the parents waiting nearby. You'll also see how the scientists blocked the adult falcons from attacking them.
Click here * to see the Ohio Dept. of Wildlife nest cam and video of
chicks being banded. The video shows retrieving chicks from a downtown Columbus building nestbox, leg banding, a blood draw -- and plenty of screaming by the 3-week-old birds. Watch the entire 7 minute show to see the chicks being returned and the parents waiting nearby. You'll also see how the scientists blocked the adult falcons from attacking them.
This juvenile peregrine falcon was a few days, if not hours, away from being able to fly out of this nestbox on the top of the Racine County, Wis. courthouse in mid-June 2008. He's testing his wings. Septon banded this bird also.
