[wisb] Peregrines at We Energies facilities

From: "Cutright.Noel" <Noel.Cutright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 09:22:11 -0500
There are 4 eggs in the nest boxes at Pleasant Prairie PP in Kenosha Co.
(projected hatch is May 12-16), at Oak Creek PP in Milwaukee Co.
(projected hatch date May 16-18), and at Port Washington PP in Ozaukee
Co. (projected hatch date May 3-5).   There were 3 eggs laid at Valley
PP with 1 subsequently broken (the 2 remaining eggs may have already
hatched).  There's also been lots of activity at the Milwaukee County PP
this year but activity has waned as they seemed to have moved to the
Mayfair Shopping Center site with 2 eggs there as of April 13.
http://www.we-energies.com/environmental/peregrine_falcons.htm

And here is the story of Atlanta, a story that beats the odds (this
comes from Greg Septon).

Atlanta is a female peregrine that hatched at the Pulliam Power Plant
nest site in Green Bay
on May 30, 1996. I banded her (L/*C) as a downy youngster along with her
three siblings on June 19 that year.  That fall, Atlanta was found shot
in Trenton, IN with a broken wing.
She was treated and stabilized locally and then flown to the Raptor
Center at the Univ. of
MN for surgery and rehabilitation. In April 1997, I received word that
Atlanta was fit and ready for release. Hoping to play matchmaker, I
arranged to release her near the nest box on the roof of the Racine Co.
Courthouse where a lone male peregrine had taken up residence in 1994
but had yet to attract a mate. On May 1, Atlanta was scheduled to be
flown on an early morning flight from Minneapolis to Milwaukee.
But things did not quite work out as planned, and Atlanta was not on her
scheduled flight - the airline had lost her. Atlanta finally arrived at
Milwaukee's Mitchell Field on the last flight of the day. If not for the
late hour and severe thunderstorm warnings that night, I might have
driven to Racine and released her. Instead, she spent the night perched
on the back of a chair in my darkened office where I fed her a quail
that I thawed earlier.

The next morning, I loaded Atlanta into her air kennel and drove to
Racine and released her from the courthouse roof. Eight months later --
January 1998 -- she was identified at a power plant nest site in
Michigan City, IN. In April that same year, I found her perched on a
300-ft catwalk railing on the chimney at Pleasant Prairie PP where we
had installed a nest box several years earlier. Atlanta successfully
nested at the plant that year, laying 4 eggs, hatching 2 and fledging 1
chick that unfortunately died a few days later.

Where Atlanta spent that fall and winter remains unknown, but in
February 1999, she arrived in full force at the Oak Creek PP where she
battled for hours with the resident female peregrine named "Sheri"
(X/*U), inflicting what were to be fatal injuries. With "Sheri" out of
the picture, Atlanta had found a new home and proved she was tough
enough to hold onto it. 
Atlanta is now 14 years old and has produced a total of 38 young. She is
currently incubating 4 eggs at the plant, which are due to hatch May
16-18. Considering that 50-70% of peregrines never make it past their
1st year, Atlanta has truly beaten the odds.

Noel Cutright, Ozaukee Co.


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[wisb] Peregrines at We Energies facilities

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