Peregrine Falcons and Blogs

Hatch has started at our Peregrine Falcon nests!

May 9, 2022: Peregrine Falcon hatchlings at Xcel Energy's High Bridge plant in St. Paul, MN

Hatch has started at our peregrine falcon nests! We have three hatchlings at Xcel Energy’s High Bridge plant in St. Paul, MN; four hatchlings at Dairyland Power’s Alma facility in Alma, WI; and four hatchlings at Great River Energy’s Elk River plant in Elk River, MN. Watch for hatch this week at: Minnesota Power Hibbard (estimated hatch date: Monday, May 10) Great Spirit Bluff (estimated hatch date: Tuesday, May 10) You can watch Great Spirit Bluff here: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/gsb-falcons/ or here:

Banding Birds: How We Band and How to Report Bands

Banding tools for nestling peregrine falcons

We are sometimes asked why we band birds. Banding birds provides an invaluable way to study their life histories and chart changes in bird populations, including changes in range, population numbers, and migratory behaviors. Bands do not hurt birds or impact their individual or reproductive success. There are a number of different ways to band or mark birds. We use two leg bands on peregrine falcons: an aluminum leg band on the right leg and a color band on the

Banding Birds: A Brief History

Falcon Tom from Xcel Sherco, 2019

We sometimes get asked why we band birds. Bird banding allows us to study the movement, survival, and behavior of the birds we band, and get life histories for at least some of the birds we watch. Bird banding has helped researchers gather information on mortality rates, dispersal patterns, migration, behavior, social structure, and seasonal and long-term population trends. It allows us to track individual peregrine falcons, giving us an intimate look at how a species behaves as it recovers,

D32 update from our friends at SOAR

July 12, 2019: D32's cast is removed

A share from SOAR Some good news for Decorah Eaglet D32! His cast was removed after a vet check and new x-ray, and we put a new wrap on him for support. Since D32 was showing more signs of energy and wanted to stretch his wings, we moved him from the ICU crate to a 10’x20′ enclosure. He also has a roomie…an HY18 bald eagle at a similar stage in recovery. D32’s sibling D33 and Decorah North eaglet DN9 are

A Reflection and a Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2018

November 23rd would have been Bob Anderson’s birthday. I assume that our friend and founder would finally have achieved his dream of retirement – or at least semi-retirement – and be busy with his book by now. Given the thankful nature of the season, it seems like a good time to take stock of where the Raptor Resource Project has been, where it plans on going, and what I have to be thankful for. For those of you who don’t

Six Eggs at Xcel Energy’s Sherco Plant?

Six falcon eggs at Xcel's Sherco Plant

A falcon on six eggs? That is what we appear to have at Xcel Energy’s Sherco plant in Becker, Minnesota! The first four eggs laid here were fully pigmented, but the last two are lighter in color and easily identifiable. A few possibilities: The falcon is incubating four eggs laid this spring and two eggs laid last spring. Last year’s resident falcon laid four eggs, but none of them hatched. Two of them appeared to have survived the winter and