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 Well, the season is certainly in FULL SWING!! The majority of the birds are back on territory in the southern half of the state, with the North Shore birds returning soon.
With their return (if they left the area at all in the fall to migrate), the falcons are busy with nesting site selection and courtship. If they are a bird that never left the area, they are busily defending their nesting site from other falcons and attracting a mate. The next four to six weeks feel like the busiest to me—frantically trying to identify and re-confirm which adult is at a specific territory and when eggs are laid.
So far, the field team is off to a good start. Some of the sites where we have already identified the adults are:
SITE |
NAME |
SEX |
BAND |
YEAR
HATCHED |
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City Center, Mpls. |
"Scalpee" |
F |
unbanded |
1997 |
2003-07: here |
"Younger" |
M |
b/g 04/N |
2003 |
2004: 3M; 2005-07: here |
City Hall, Mpls |
?? |
F |
USFWS |
?? |
2000-06: here |
"Bor" |
M |
b/g 03/N |
2003 |
2005-06: here |
Lock & Dam #1 |
"Amelia" |
F |
b/g 0/*G |
2000 |
2000-07: here |
"Survivor" |
M |
b/g 42/N |
2004 |
2007: here |
Bremer Tower, St. Paul |
"Jill" |
F |
b/g 50/B |
2002 |
2004-05: here, 2006: 3M |
"Sota" |
M |
b/r 8/*E |
1994 |
1998-2005: here, 2006: 3M |
Key to Bands: |
b/g = black over green
b/r = black over red
b = black (Canada)
r = red (Canada)
* = letter or number is tipped on the side
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Female peregrine at Lock and Dam #1 in Minneapolis |
Male peregrine at Bremer Tower in St. Paul |
So far, we have had quite a bit of luck in reading the bands of the birds via a Leica spotting scope, but the weather and luck of the bird’s behavior has been on our side. My shortest/longest record for reading a band was less than 10 minutes for reading two different bird’s band at the St. Cloud Prison and over 38 hours time to read one band of one bird at the Wells Fargo site in Bloomington!! However, even after reading a band of a bird at a specific site, we are always trying to re-confirm that band identity at every opportunity. Especially during March-April, birds may try and oust a resident bird from their territory, and it is important to notice any change in the parentage of any resulting chicks. Some sites seem to have more territoriality challenges than others, but we try and watch as many as possible. |
Two peregrines fight over a nest.
Photo by Bud Tordoff.
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We hope to have all the birds identified within the next four to six weeks, but there are also a few new sites where the adults are identified only after the birds are already on eggs or the chicks have hatched in late May or early June. Stay tuned for more information on a specific site or the entire state population…we are hoping for a good crop of nests with eggs in 2007, and so far, things are looking very promising.
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