Great River Energy Falcons
I'm not sure what made Boy Scout Daniel Sundberg decide to build a falcon nestbox for his Eagle Scout project, but I'm glad he did! The box was installed on Great River Energy's Elk River Plant in early 2006. Falcons adopted it in early 2007, hatching three young.
Thanks, Daniel!
The adult female at this site has kind of an interesting history. Mom 30/B is from Cleveland, Ohio. She was admitted to the Raptor Center on 10/08/2002 with head trauma. They banded her, patched her up, and released her in Rochester, Minnesota, on 10/17/2002. She briefly showed up at Xcel Energy's Sherco plant in Becker, Minnesota, where she laid eggs in the detritus of a nestbox that had earlier been destroyed by lightning. Unfortunately, a storm washed the gravel and eggs from the catwalk. The falcon disappeared, only to show up at the GRE nestbox not long after.
Brenda Beauchaine, the plant's administrative assistant, is a big fan of the falcons! She pointed out the female's left foot. It was missing two left talons - she had stumps - and another was crooked up at an odd angle. Brenda told us she thought that the falcon had been injured not long before she came to the plant, since she had initially spent a lot of time worrying at her foot. Whatever had happened, it didn't seem to affect her ability to care for her young. There were three healthy babies in the nest.
The nestbox
You can see the nest box location above - it's inside the black box. Most of our power plant sites are accessed via an elevator, a ladder, or some combination of the two. But at GRE, we got a lift in a bucket truck!
Bob in the bucket truck.
Daniel with young falcon.
The falcons were:
Female 1687-02042 K/54 Jennie
Male 2206-72225 D/59 Dougie
Male 2206-72226 D/60 Falcor
The 1687 and 2206 numbers are federal Fish and Wildlife Service band numbers. The K/ and D/ numbers are color band numbers that allow observers to quickly identify the falcons. Daniel picked the names Jennie and Dougie - I believe they were named after his siblings (what a great brother!) - and GRE picked Falcor.
Once the young falcons were banded, Rob put them back. Daniel may have thought his part in the project was over with - after all, he'd built a great nestbox - but on the way out, I heard Dan Orr from Xcel talking with Daniel and his dad Mark about the possibility of Daniel's troop building more nestboxes. Among other things, Sherco could use a replacement.
All in all, it was a very pleasant day. A big thanks to Daniel, Brenda, and everyone else at GRE for your support of, and enthusiasm for, the falcons.
Amy Ries
I'm not sure what made Boy Scout Daniel Sundberg decide to build a falcon nestbox for his Eagle Scout project, but I'm glad he did! The box was installed on Great River Energy's Elk River Plant in early 2006. Falcons adopted it in early 2007, hatching three young.
Thanks, Daniel!
The adult female at this site has kind of an interesting history. Mom 30/B is from Cleveland, Ohio. She was admitted to the Raptor Center on 10/08/2002 with head trauma. They banded her, patched her up, and released her in Rochester, Minnesota, on 10/17/2002. She briefly showed up at Xcel Energy's Sherco plant in Becker, Minnesota, where she laid eggs in the detritus of a nestbox that had earlier been destroyed by lightning. Unfortunately, a storm washed the gravel and eggs from the catwalk. The falcon disappeared, only to show up at the GRE nestbox not long after.
Brenda Beauchaine, the plant's administrative assistant, is a big fan of the falcons! She pointed out the female's left foot. It was missing two left talons - she had stumps - and another was crooked up at an odd angle. Brenda told us she thought that the falcon had been injured not long before she came to the plant, since she had initially spent a lot of time worrying at her foot. Whatever had happened, it didn't seem to affect her ability to care for her young. There were three healthy babies in the nest.
The nestbox
You can see the nest box location above - it's inside the black box. Most of our power plant sites are accessed via an elevator, a ladder, or some combination of the two. But at GRE, we got a lift in a bucket truck!
Bob in the bucket truck.
It was a piece of cake to get the babies - no huffing and puffing up stairs and no elevators (It is true - one came off the top of the track once. But it didn't happen anywhere we band.) The adults here were not particularly aggressive, a nice change after taking on Nora at Blackdog earlier in the day. The female flew around and called, while the male was nowhere to be seen. Bob got the babies, put them in the sky kennel, and came on down for banding. Daniel was a little hesitant about holding the young falcons - he was afraid he would hurt them - but seemed to quickly overcome his trepidation.
Daniel with young falcon.
The falcons were:
Female 1687-02042 K/54 Jennie
Male 2206-72225 D/59 Dougie
Male 2206-72226 D/60 Falcor
The 1687 and 2206 numbers are federal Fish and Wildlife Service band numbers. The K/ and D/ numbers are color band numbers that allow observers to quickly identify the falcons. Daniel picked the names Jennie and Dougie - I believe they were named after his siblings (what a great brother!) - and GRE picked Falcor.
Once the young falcons were banded, Rob put them back. Daniel may have thought his part in the project was over with - after all, he'd built a great nestbox - but on the way out, I heard Dan Orr from Xcel talking with Daniel and his dad Mark about the possibility of Daniel's troop building more nestboxes. Among other things, Sherco could use a replacement.
All in all, it was a very pleasant day. A big thanks to Daniel, Brenda, and everyone else at GRE for your support of, and enthusiasm for, the falcons.
Amy Ries
1 Comments:
Daniel is awesome. Everything I picture a Scout to be. It is great that the falcons have a guardian in Brenda. But Bob in the bucket truck! Let's hope he doesn't get too used to these cushy conveniences.
Dot
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