Mississippi River Peregrine Falcons: Great News for Cliff Nesting Falcons

Tuesdays must be the lucky day to find falcons on the river cliffs. On 4/8/08 we located two adult falcons defending Pepin Heights cliff just south of Lake City, MN. On 4/15/08, I spent the entire day surveying river cliffs and was most pleased to find two adult falcons defending a small cliff just north of the town of Minneiska, MN.

It appears that falcons are now taking to smaller or secondary cliffs. However, the one constant is that all cliffs with falcons tower directly over open water. Will this change when all cliffs directly facing water are occupied?

The following is a list of cliff sites with falcons on territory.

1. West Bluff near Maiden Rock, WI: Historic eyrie with falcons back for the third time.
2. Maiden Rock: The matriarch of river cliffs. Purchased and managed by the West Wisconsin Land Trust.
3. Maassen’s Bluff: Four miles north of Alma, WI.
4. 12 Mile Bluff: On the south end of the town of Alma, WI.
5. Castle Rock: Across the river from Winona, MN.
6. Lynxville, WI cliffs: The falcons are back on Larson’s Bluff.
7. Lock and Dam 9: This is the third year for this small cliff to attract falcons. It’s interesting to note that in 2006 there was an adult male paired with an immature female. 2007 an adult male paired with an immature female. 2008 adult female, immature male.
8. Fountain City: Two adults taking to the nest box mounted to the cliff in 2006.
9. John Latsch: Adult falcons present. Bandings carried out by Raptor Center.
10. Queen’s Bluff: South of Winona, MN Bandings carried out by Raptor Center.
11. Homer cliff near Homer, MN: Two adult falcons defending
12. Great Spirit Bluff: South of Dresbach, MN.
13. Leo’s Bluff, Waukon Jnct, IA: The two adult falcons at this cliff have moved to a new cliff just upstream from Leo’s Bluff. This is the third time the falcons have moved upstream. Dan Berger jokes that this is the result of global warming.
14. Pepin Heights 1: We confirmed falcons on this cliff on 4/8/08. On 4/15/08 I saw them carry out a food transfer. The winds were too strong to attempt to read bands on the top of the cliff. I even got a creepy feeling while standing on the top of this bluff being buffeted by 30+ winds.
15. Hussen’s Bluff near Minneiska, MN: I confirmed two adult falcons on this small cliff yesterday morning. I met with the land owner who is excited about his falcons.

Cliffs that have had some falcon activity

1. Twin Bluffs: Near Nelson, WI. Two falcons were present on early visits to the cliff but on 4/8/08 no falcons were observed. This same day, two falcons were observed at the Wabasha Bridge. The owners of this cliff have asked us to install a nest box on the cliff wall.
2. Trempealeau, WI: Falcons were observed several times in 2007. We have not seen falcon activity as of this writing in 2008.
3. Brownsville, MN: There are two cliffs south of Brownville that have in past years attracted single falcons.
4. Alma Marina cliff: This is a historic cliff nest site for the peregrine falcons. Dan Berger working with Fred and Fran Hamerstrom trapped an adult female falcon below this cliff in the early 50’s. We’ve seen falcons at this cliff several times over the years however, last year and, this year, Great Horned Owls are nesting in the one prominent eyrie.
5. Goose Island cliff: We have had falcons visit this cliff off and on over the last few years. The land owner who lives near the base of this cliff will let us know if falcons are seen once again.
6. Hastings cliff: Falcons have nested in the nest box mounted to the small cliff and also on a nearby bridge. I have not heard what site the Hasting falcons are using this season.

Bob Anderson
Director, Raptor Resource Project

First Mississippi River falcon survey for 2008

On Sunday March 16th, I set off on my first river falcon survey for the season. I began my search at Leo’s Bluff near Waukon Junction, IA. Neil Rettig reported seeing one falcon up on the cliff while driving by on 3/13/08. I was a tad disappointed to begin this first of many surveys without seeing a falcon at this lovely cliff. I decided to make a u-turn and head back downstream to Nobles Island, where I was pleased to see an adult falcon flying over Paint Rock cliff, heading directly to Leo’s Bluff. I then felt better beginning my search for falcons.

I was able to locate one adult male falcon on the cliff behind the Lansing power plant. We blocked off the front of the nest box up on the stack last season as there was construction taking place through all of the month of May. The falcons moved back over to their favored ledge on the cliff and once again, the eggs were eaten by raccoons. I’m hoping we can make the stack nest box available for the 2008 nesting season, giving us time to figure out some way to block raccoons from this one ledge the falcons favor.

I found two adult falcons at Queen’s Bluff.

No sign of falcons at the Homer cliff.

I crossed the river at Winona, MN and was pleased to quickly locate two adult falcons at Castle Rock.

No sign of falcons at the Fountain City cliffs.

I was pleased to find two adult falcons at 12 Mile Bluff. This cliff is adjacent to the Alma power plant, where the falcons have bounced back and forth from the stack nest box to this cliff. Where will they nest this year?

I spent quite a bit of time searching the face of the Alma Marina cliff with no luck. I hope this will be the year for falcons to return to this historic nest site.

I was pleased to discover two adult falcons strafing an immature falcon that made the mistake of flying past the face of Maassen’s Bluff. I noticed that the driveway to our local falcon enthusiast, Gary Grunwald, was still blocked for the season. Usually, Gary returns to his upper Mississippi home around the same time the falcons do. I hope all is well for our friend and Maassen’s Bluff falcon observer.

I was pleased to locate an adult falcon flying back and forth across the faces of Twin Bluffs near Nelson, WI. I have notified the owners of this cliff of my observation and know they will be pleased. (Amy's Note: I hear there are rattlesnakes on this cliff. I hope I get to see one ! The landowners here are doing a great job of preserving their cliff top.)

I spent about ten minutes at Maiden Rock cliff before locating an adult male falcon perched on a dead cedar snag. I had a string of cars behind me as I passed West Bluff and decided to pass on stopping, knowing that the owners of this cliff will inform us when falcons appear.

As I drove through the town of Red Wing, MN, I could easily see an adult falcon perched in the front of the Red Wing Grain falcon nest box. We installed a camera at this nest box last year during the banding event. Plant personnel are in the process of installing an Axis server, so we should soon have this nest site linked to the RRP bird cam page.

I met with Dan Orr at the Xcel Energy SHERCO plant on Monday morning with hopes to mount the replacement nest box, camera, and microphone. However, an outage at the plant along with poor weather forced us to cancel this installation. Dan will see that the nest box and camera equipment gets installed this week.

We are so very fortunate to have many friends and falcon enthusiasts helping us follow the cliff nest sites along the big river. We were pleased with the new cliff nest sites that came on line in 2007. I hope all of these cliff sites are active once again this season and, am willing a few more to come on line.


Bob Anderson