Peregrine Falcons and Blogs

Who’s That Bird?

March 19, 2025: Three adult falcons in the nestbox at Xcel Energy's High Bridge Plant

Spoiler alert: There are three of them! Three adult falcons showed up at Xcel Energy’s High Bridge nestbox in Saint Paul, MN yesterday! Present were: Watch live here: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/xcel-energy-cams/#peregrines. While the males were very slightly antagonistic toward one another, there was none of the usual fighting. They both courted Joe’l, who seemed a little more interested in Elken. Elken has been courting her for about a month and he brought a food gift, but Monty showed up empty-taloned. While she

Who’s That Bird?

Maggie 79/X at Red Wing Grain

Who’s that bird at our Red Wing Grain nestbox? It’s Maggie 79/X, a 2020 hatch from Effigy Mounds National Monument near Marquette, Iowa! 2020 was a very special year at Effigy Mounds. In 1996, RRP’s founder Bob Anderson moved down to Iowa to pursue returning Peregrine Falcons to their historical eyries on the cliffs of the Mississippi River. We did two years of releases from Hanging Rock at Effigy Mounds National Monument and, in 2000, peregrine falcons returned to the

Who’s that bird? It’s Ardy 06/D!

February 27, 2025: Peregrine Falcon Ardy at US Bank. Ardy is a 2015 hatch from Ardent Milling in Lake City, MN: about 67 miles north as the falcon flies.

Who’s that bird? It’s Ardy 06/D, a 2015 hatch from Ardent Milling in Lake City, MN! He’s been the resident male at our nestbox on the US Bank Building in La Crosse, WI since 2021, although my notes say that he visited the Great Spirit Bluff nestbox on April 13 of 2017. US Bank and Great Spirit Bluff are about five miles apart and it isn’t uncommon to see falcons exploring both sites, especially in the fall and late winter.

Who’s that Bird?

January 7, 2025: Birdie Blair from WEPCO's Oak Creek Plant in Milwaukee, WI.

On Monday, I asked followers to email me if they got a band number at our US Bank La Crosse, WI nestbox. Lo and behold, Rosieann B came through! I’d seen this young peregrine previously and thought it was a local nestling we banded in 2024. But 30/AC isn’t one of our band numbers. Who was this? I looked the band number up and learned that Greg Septon banded Birdie Blair (love the name!) at the WEPCO Oak Creek Power

January 6, 2025: Building and Beaking!

January 6, 2025: Building and Beaking at the North nest! https://youtu.be/5ZM5Pyfbvio?si=w9JWDXYzdExnakkL. It’s a great time to watch DNF and Mr. North flirt – albeit in a very eagle way! – as things ramp up. Look for beaking, body brushing, gentle nibbling, footing, and side-by-side perching. More on eagle courtship and bonding here: https://www.raptorresource.org/.../bald-eagle-mating

What are we looking forward to this week? Mr. North and DNF are busy testing and improving their new digs as they pile on husks, stalks, and grass. Shag carpets are back, baby! We recorded our first copulation of the season on December 7th, although we don’t really expect things to ramp up until the last week of January. But it’s a great time to watch DNF and Mr. North flirt – albeit in a very eagle way! – as

May 1, 2024: News and NestFlix from Decorah North and Trempealeau

April 30, 2024: How do I eat this thing? DN17 nibble at a bone as they swap it back and forth.

DN17 and DN18 turn 38 and 37 days old today and we’re getting asked about their likely sexes. We’ll be looking and listening for differences, but we wanted to address a couple of interesting factors when it comes to eaglet size and sex. After about 30 days, the weights of the two sexes begin to diverge as females gain weight faster than males. Mark Stalmaster tells us that three major circumstances influence the relative sizes of nestmates: early hatchers are

Banding Birds: How We Band and How to Report Bands

Bands and 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

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