NB students adopt falcons

By John Behling
Ten first- and second-grade students from North Branch Primary School learned about an interesting pair of subjects last Wednesday: Peregrine Falcons and power plants.
Students from Jeri Fischerís and Chris Piotrowskiís classes waited under an 800-foot smoke stack at the Alan S. King power plant in Oak Park Heights, Minn., for the arrival of Speedy, Jay and Georgie, the newest offspring of Peregrine Falconís Mae and Doug. Bob Anderson of the Falcon Resource Project climbed to the nesting box 400 feet above the ground to retrieve the newborn triplets, while their protective parents swooped down menacingly.
ìThere she is!î shouted a chorus of eager kids as they pointed at Mae defending her territory. When the young birds were collected, an elevator took Anderson and the eyases (falcon infants) down to the lobby of the power plant main building where the birds were banded for identification. ìThese kids donít get to see this kind of thing,î Fischer said, smiling broadly as she watched her pupils wait patiently.
For the last 30 days, the North Branch students have watched the Peregrines courtesy of Falcon Cam, a digital camera mounted in the nesting box which provides constantly updated pictures, viewable on Xcel Energyís Web site. For the past 10 years, the Alan S. King plant has been selecting a group of elementary students to become human adoptive parents to each yearís new offspring (a Peregrine Falcon lays 3-4 eggs every year). Plant Director Mark Fritsch has made the decision on what schools to involve for the last four years.
Eyas are born with white down coats, which are soon replaced by feathers. Speedy and Jay were the names decided on by the two classes; Jay was chosen by one of the classes as a tribute to a studentís father who recently passed away. Georgie was decided on by the teachers.
After the banding, Anderson and his assistant, Kassi Warnken, took blood samples, which are used to monitor the birdís exposure to heavy metals.
Emissions from coal burning power plants are one concern to many who question the Peregrine-Utility program.
Between 1998 and 2000, the Raptor Research Project collected 83 samples from falcons at fossil fuel burning power plants, 18 from falcons at nuclear power plants, four from urban nesting falcons, seven from arctic migratory falcons and 10 from captive falcons. Although falcons from fossil fuel plants showed higher levels of some dangerous metals than other tested birds, the study concluded that these toxins arenít accumulating in high enough levels to be dangerous to the birdís physical or reproductive health.
Itís a wonderful marriage of conservation and industry and itís made a big difference, Anderson said.
The Alan S. King plant was the first power plant world-wide to install falcon nesting boxes. Now, plants everywhere from the United States to Italy and Vietnam are installing nesting boxes, according to Xcel Energy spokesman Paul Adelmann.
During the 1950s and 60s, Peregrine Falcons dwindled in numbers due to the use of DDT (see sidebar). Thanks to programs like the Peregrine-Utility program, which has fledged 137 falcons from seven Xcel plants, Peregrines are no longer on the endangered species list.
Mae was born 15 years ago on the top of the Multi Foods Tower in Minneapolis. Her mate, Doug, was raised on the old Wardís tower in St. Paul. Over the past 13 years of nesting at the King plant, Doug and Mae have fledged 36 offspring.
The fact that Mae is a prolific parent and grandparent speaks to her living legacy in helping to restore a once-endangered species, Anderson said. Mae and the power plant nest box program loom large in the recovery of the Peregrine Falcon.

On the road to extinction
According to information provided by the Falcon-Utility program, in the early 1940s biologist Joseph Hickey determined that there were more than 200 pairs of Peregrines east of the Mississippi. Between 1950 and 1965 peregrine falcon populations declined rapidly throughout the United States and parts of Europe. Researchers discovered that DDT, a widespread, extensively-used pesticide, was interfering in eggshell formation. Seemingly healthy birds were laying eggs so thin that they were crushed by the weight of the incubating adult. By 1962, no Peregrines were fledged in the eastern or central United States. By 1968, there were no Peregrine Falcons east of the Mississippi river at all. By the 1970s Americaís Peregrine population dwindled to 19 pairs, all in the western United States. Many believed the species would inevitably become extinct.
During the mid-1970s and 80s, breed and release programs such as Cornell Universityís Peregrine Fund, founded by Dr. Tom Cade, were helping to replenish the species using a falconry technique called hacking.
In 1987, a Peregrine named MF-1 fledged two young, Maude and Mae from the Multi Foods tower in Minneapolis. This was the first time a falcon had nested mid-continent since the mid-1960s. Maude flew north to establish territory in Winnipeg, Canada. Mae nested in Oak Park Heights, starting the Peregrine-Utility program.

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