By RRP Director John Howe
Peregrine Falcons Newman and Nova are back at Great Spirit Bluff! On February 24th, we saw (and heard) male Newman reclaiming his territory and favorite spots, protecting his No-Fly Zone from local eagles, turkey vultures, and owls. Mate Nova joined him on February 25th.
What about the owls? We have been testing audio and visual owl deterrents by shining a light at favorite perching spots and broadcasting the sound of barking dogs. Our deterrents appear to have been successful, since we haven’t seen owls since late January. We are still considering several size exclusion designs for the front of the nest box. We’ll see if they are necessary: we’d rather not change a very successful design if we can keep the owls away. We’re looking forward to the new year!
Great Spirit Bluff is beautiful and we’re very excited about our 16th year! Falcons first started nesting here in 2005. Watch here: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/gsb-falcons/ and here: https://explore.org/livecams/raptor-resource-project/peregrine-falcon-cam.