One of the Decorah eagles enjoys a squirrel on Christmas morning. I am glad to see it after a day's absence. It struck me, as I was going through the dailies, that the eagles must be very warm. The first pic below was taken yesterday, after the last snowstorm. The second was taken today, after the eagle had eaten as much squirrel as it cared to.

The eagle melted a lot of snow while it ate the squirrel - more than I would have thought.

The Fort St. Vrain eagles in Colorado are also busy working on their nest. They aren't dealing with the snow and ice that the Decorah eagles are. In fact, the shot below makes it look like the eagles are back to eating turtles again - that round object looks somewhat like a turtle plastron to me. The FSV eagles ate a lot of turtles the year before last. However, given the time of year, I don't know whether or not turtles would be available to them. This is a night time shot, captured via IR.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Recently we have been asked by the USFWS to install some falcon nest boxes on cliffs in pool 13 upstream of Clinton, IA. We have not studied the cliffs in this region of the river as most of the bluffs in this region do not have road access. We have used boats to survey cliffs near Petosi, WI and Balltown, IA in the past but, to extend the boat surveys down to pool 13 would take days on the water. We called upon Dairyland Power Cooperative for the use of their Bell Jet Ranger helicopter and, pilot. Fortunately, our request was granted.

I met John Thiel at the La Crosse , WI airport early last Wednesday 4/21/10 and we set off in the helicopter with high hopes of finding new cliffs with nesting falcons. The first cliff we decided to study was Goose Island bluff just downstream of La Crosse, WI. We have had two reports in the last week of a falcon staffing a hawk and an eagle a short distance away from the cliff itself. We were curious to find out if there was another cliff besides the Goose Island cliff that these falcons could be defending. We did not find any bluffs nearby other then the main wall of the Goose Island cliff itself. Fortunately, we have a supporter of the falcon program who owns this cliff and is closely watching for falcons to take up ownership.

We then crossed the river to the Iowa side and began heading down stream. When we passed over Dead Cow Bluff south of Lansing, IA I could see an adult falcon in the cliff mounted nest box. We did not spend time at the Lansing Power plant cliff or Leo’s Bluff, where we know there are falcons on site. Due to the early morning light on the east facing cliffs we stayed on the Iowa side of the river, working our way down to pool 13. We did find some small cliffs near Sabula, IA that might attract falcons if a nest box was available. When we could just see the town of Clinton, IA coming into view we crossed the river and began checking the cliffs in Illinois and Wisconsin side of the river. We did find a string of small cliffs directly across the river from the John Deere plant near Dubuque, IA. We also looked very close at the cliffs on the Wisconsin side of the river directly across from Balltown, IA. One thing that John Theil and I noticed is that most of the cliffs in this region of the river are much smaller than the cliffs upstream. We also noticed that the rock walls had very few if any ledges or potholes.

We did not find any new cliffs with territorial falcons but we were able to get a feeling for just where we might have cliff nesting falcons in future years. One highlight of the flight day was when heading back to La Crosse, WI we decided to take a short rest at Capoli Bluff south of Lansing, IA. Raleigh Buckmaster gave us approval to land on his property. Raleigh then took my place in the helicopter to show the pilot and John Theil the falcon effigies on his land. Raleigh took the attached image of us in the helicopter when we called it a day and returned to La Crosse to tuck the fantastic flying machine away in its hanger.

The larger cliffs that we have upstream from Prairie du Chein, WI and Waukon Junction, IA are probably more attractive to nesting falcons over the much smaller cliffs found in pool 12 and pool 13 of the Mississippi River. However, last year Christian Hagenlocher, a student at Principia College, discovered a cliff nesting pair of Peregrine falcons on a tall cliff near Alton, IL. Neil Rettig also saw these same falcons early last spring while on his way to a film shoot. It sounds like the limestone cliffs begin to increase in height again in this region of the Mississippi River. It’s going to be interesting to hear if this pair of falcons returns to nest again this year and also if any new cliffs in this region come on line.

I am most appreciative of Dairyland Power donating the use of the Bell Jet Ranger to assess and GPS the river cliffs. This is the second time that we have used the Dairyland Power helicopter to survey the Mississippi River cliffs. On this second flight we used over 100 gallons of expensive jet fuel. Many thanks to Dairyland Power Cooperative for their most generous donation to Peregrine falcon studies along the big river.

Sunday 4/18/10 falcon survey on Mississippi River



I set off early Sunday morning and made my directly to the Agri-Bunge stack house in McGregor, Iowa. I searched the usual spots the adult male falcon has been known to use without locating him. I humped my telescope and tri-pod up the nearby bluff to get a view directly into the nest box mounted to the roof of the stack house. What a physical way to start the day by trudging up this bluff! Once top side and scope set up, I could easily see the head of an adult falcon incubating in the nest box.

Next site was Leo’s Bluff near Waukon Junction, IA. As I was nearing the area directly below the cliff, I saw the adult male falcon heading out over the river with a snapping wing beat. I knew he was on a hunt. By the time I got my car pulled over I lost sight of the hunting falcon. He returned about five minutes later without prey. I was setting up my scope to verify band status when a Red-tail hawk flew directly in front of the cliff face. I thought Why is this guy not getting hammered? Just then, the adult male falcon struck the hawk with such force that I could hear the strike and saw many feathers flying. The falcon got in one more strike before the wounded hawk made it to safety in the trees.


I then drove to the Lansing Power plant cliff and saw an adult falcon perched on the new cliff mounted nest box. We installed this nest box about ten feet above the favored ledge. Each and every time the falcons nest on this ledge and not the nest box their eggs are eaten by raccoons. However, I noticed fresh mutes on the ledge and now wonder if the female is on eggs on the ledge and the adult male falcon is using the nest box perch as a sentry spot. I will need to access the roof of the plant turbine building or cat-walk up on the stack to get a good view of the cliff nest box and nearby ledge.


The nest box we mounted about nine years ago on Dead Cow Bluff just upstream of the Lansing power plant had an adult falcon perched out front of the nest box. David Litton, Tom Griffin, Dave Kester, Neil Rettig, Maggie Jones, and myself mounted this nest box. Humping the nest box, pea-gravel, tools and ropes to the top of this bluff took a bit of effort. However, after all of these years, it appears it was an effort worth while.


I checked Blackhawk and Reno Bluffs without finding falcons. I spent about 30 minutes at the Shellhorn cliff south of Brownsville, MN without locating a falcon. I did not find a falcon at this cliff on my last survey and now feel that the adult falcons that were on site in mid March have moved elsewhere.


I saw one falcon at Great Spirit Bluff perched on a dead snag close to the nest box, and one adult falcon strafing a Turkey vulture at Queen’s Bluff. I spent quite a bit of time at the cliff south of Homer, MN where on previous trip I observed a falcon. No falcon on this trip. I spent quite a bit of time at Homer Cliff north where we have had successful nesting before but no luck in 2009 or again in 2010.


I originally had planned on making my way to Red Wing, MN but was anxious to meet with Gary Grunwald at Twin Bluffs near Nelson, MN. I crossed over at Winona and spent some time at Castle Rock without finding a single falcon. No falcons seen at Fountain City, WI.


The falcons at 12 Mile Bluff are seen more often on the cliff then at the nearby Dairyland Power nest box up on the stack. John Thiel was able to get the band number of the adult male who is a falcon named Mark (23/M), a 2002 HY falcon from Castle Rock


Maassen’s Bluff has no falcons at all this year. This is very strange, since we have had adult falcons at this cliff for many years. Whether or not they successfully produced young, we've had an adult pair on territory for a long time. Not this year, though.


I met with Gary Grunwald down below Twin Bluffs at Nelson, WI. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we saw an adult male falcon chase off intruding vultures. He then flew to a live cedar tree and disappeared. Gary and I next made our way to Maiden Rock and quickly located an adult male falcon that is banded but I don’t think it is Gunnar, the captive bred falcon that has nested at this cliff in the past. We didn't find a falcon at West Bluff, although the land owners have reported seeing two falcons drive away eagles.


Gary and I made our way back down stream, stopping for a few minutes to try to get the band number of the adult male at Maiden Rock (no luck). We ended the day at Twin Bluff, where we were shocked to find vultures flying across the face of the cliff and even perching on the bluff top without being harassed by a peregrine falcon.


We have had adult falcons at these cliffs in past seasons that do not have resident falcons this year:

• Castle Rock, WI
• Masssen’s Bluff,WI
• Homer, MN cliff
• Fountain City, WI cliff
• Shellhorn cliff, Brownsville, MN

Bob Anderson

Greetings, I had received a report of a falcons stooping on a Red-tail hawk near Goose Island cliff south of La Crosse, WI. On Saturday I gave a presentation in La Crosse then set off to check out the falcon report. As I drove near the cliff, I could see the cliff owner standing in his yard looking up towards the Goose Island cliff. He has not seen falcons.


I then checked cliffs on the WI side of the river and crossed over at the Lansing, IA bridge. Made my way to down below Dead Cow Bluff and was pleased to see an adult tiercel falcon perched on a dead snag near the cliff mounted nest box. All looks well at this site.

I then drove to the Lansing power plant cliff and hiked to the area directly down below the cliff face. I was pleased to see an adult tiercel falcon perched on the new cliff nest box. We mounted this nest box a few years ago in an attempt to attract the nesting falcons away from their favored ledge where each and every time they have attempted to breed on this ledge the eggs/young were eaten by raccoons. It's looking promising for this pair to be productive since raccoons can't access this nest box.

Things look good for the nesting falcons at the RRP nest box on the Agri-bunge stack house in Mc Gregor, IA.

The cliff nesting pair at Leo's Bluff near Waukon Junction, IA are probably on eggs.

The adult falcons at Larson's Bluff near Lynxville, WI are looking like they will use the main cliff this year. With the nesting falcons at the Dairyland Power Genoa plant and the other nest sites mentioned above, we have six pairs of nesting falcons in a relatively small area of the Mississippi River.

John and I will be checking all of the cliffs near Petosi, WI and Balltown, IA in a helicopter this next week. We will also check for occupancy at the cliffs in pool 13 upstream of Clinton, IA. All of these cliffs do not have roads nearby and to survey by boat would take days. Look for a report of cliff assessment and GPS coordinates later this next week.

Some of the birds we watched have really struggled this spring. They face many challenges, including weather (the snowstorm at the Fort St. Vrain nest as the first eaglet was hatching), other birds (territorial battles at the Valmont owl nest and Red Wing grain elevator), and, especially in the case of cliff-nesting birds, other animals. Yet they persevere. Both eagle eggs at Fort St. Vrain have hatched and the young eaglets seem to be doing well despite the horrendous weather. Looking at this image, you wouldn't guess the nest had been covered in snow just a day or two before. The owls at Valmont appear to be ready to recycle and lay a new clutch any night now. The Horizon Milling female, Lolo, has laid her second egg. Hatch will be in roughly early May - I'll give a better date for that once egg three is laid. And at the Raptor Resource Project we are, among other things, conducting river surveys and getting ready for banding season.

My children and I went down the Mississippi River on the WI side yesterday to look for peregrines. We started at Diamond Head Bluff in Diamond Head, WI. We didn't see any peregrines there, but we did see 15-20 of what I think were broadwinged hawks kettling over the bluff. It is a wonderful time to be on the river right now - the floodplain is brimming over and everything is waking up!

Moving on down the river, we saw mature and immature bald eagles, red-winged hawks, pelicans, ducks, and beavers. We were unable to survey the Bay City bluff - I think that will need to be done by boat, or possibly hiking - but we did see a female peregrine flying in the vicinity of West Bluff. We spotted a male and female at Maiden Rock. This year, she was sitting in a dead snag to the north of last year's eyrie, roughly in the black circle area. I don't know whether she'll stay there, but she did explore a pothole in the area while we watched her.

Next, the children and I went to Twin Bluffs in Nelson, WI. We did not see peregrines there, so we went to say 'Hi!' to Gary Grunewald and check out Maasen's Bluff. It is a good thing Gary is handy, because Rebekah locked my keys in the car, and he had to break in to get them. You can break into a Saturn with a long piece of wire and a little patience. Thanks, Gary! Gary also told me he had not yet seen or heard peregrines, but we maybe saw a male peregrine right before I left. That bluff will need a harder look.

There were no falcons present at the Alma Marina cliff, although the lone pothole had fresh whitewash. This could be from birds other than peregrines, however - a GHO has nested there in years past. We saw a female at 12-Mile bluff behind the Alma powerplant. I cannot tell you how happy I was that she appeared to be exploring a completely new pothole on the bluff. That old pothole was a bear to get to! If she picks this new one - it is high up on the 'point' of the bluff, as seen from the north - it should make things easier.

I didn't see any falcons in Fountain City or, to my disappointment, at Castle Rock Bluff. I sat at Castle for 15 minutes, scanning the bluff and sky and checking all of the usual perching places. Nothing. However, Maggie Jones reports falcons at Lock and Dam 9 and Lynxville, and the season is young yet. Possibly the bluff will fill up yet!

If you see falcons in Fountain City or at Castle Rock (or anywhere else along the Mississippi between roughly Red Wing and southern Iowa, in any of the states), please drop us an email: ries93@gmail.com. Thank you, and happy birding online and off!

As our readers know, the falcon Bella died of Frounce earlier this week. Bob and I were scheduled to go up to Cohasset to band, but he stopped at GRE and removed the dead falcon. Brenda Hoskyns took it to the Raptor Center, which confirmed Bob's diagnosis of Frounce and gave her Spartrix to treat the rest of the clutch.

According to The Modern Apprentice, Frounce is "a highly contagious yeast infection of the digestive tract. Frounce is caused by a protozoan called Trichomonas which is frequently present in the crops of pigeons...The typical signs of frounce are white spots in the mouth or crop, often described as "cheesy" or "white plaques." These alone are not enough to diagnose frounce, but it is one hallmark of the disease. Other signs are head flicking, difficulty breathing, or even regurgitation of food. Green mutes may also appear."

Here's a photograph from The Modern Apprentice (who credits it to Eileen Wicker of Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky). The yucky white stuff on the lower mandible of the great horned owl is characteristic of Frounce. It looks like Thrush, a yeast infection of the mouth that human infants can get.

Think about how quickly young falcons grow. By the time they are roughly 40 days old, they've reached their adult size. They've increased their body weight over 10 times, grown two new coats of feathers (a second down coat by 10 days and flight feathers by 40 days), and gone from mostly huddling under a parent through walking, practice flying, and real flying. Bob believes that this is a very stressful time for them, which makes them more susceptible to Frounce. Furthermore, this accelerated growth rate requires a lot of food. Anything that interferes with a growing falcon's ability to eat will quickly impact it. As PLoS states, The conditions an organism experiences early in life can have critical impacts on its subsequent health and well being, both over the short and long term. Since a falcon's 'early in life' passes pretty fast, events and conditions can very quickly reach the critical point.

At any rate, we drove to Grand Rapids on Wednesday night. Minnesota Power put us up for the night and we banded at the Cohasset plant in the morning. The weather was cloudy and cool - perfect for a stack climb. I discovered this year that rests are better taken on the fall gear and not the ladder enclosure - those harnesses are almost as comfortable as an easy chair when you hang in them. Here's a video of the banding. We were joined by Darryl Councilman, a MN Power employee who got the nestbox installed, and Swede, another MN Power employee who has been a real champion of the Peregrine-utility project. The babies were healthy and both parents were unbanded. I banded them - I've been getting a lot of practice - and drew blood. The trick is to have a nice big vein, someone who can keep the falcon still, and the ability to disconnect the worrying part of your brain from your hands, which need to be worry and shake-free.

We left Minnesota Power, picked up my children in North Branch, and drove to Elk River to treat the rest of the GRE nest. Last year, three of four young falcons in Duluth died after eating a bad pigeon. We didn't want a repeat. We were met by Brenda Hoskyns and another GRE employee. They took us up to the roof, where Bob and the other guy tied off and got the falcons. Brenda and I held them while Bob gave them pills. Brenda had the great idea to bring some water up to help wash the pills down. After Bob got the pills in the back of the falcons' throats, he sprinkled some water from his fingers into their open mouths. This helped lubricate everything, and the pills went right down. One of the falcons had Frounce lesions in its mouth, so this treatment saved at least one more.

We'll banding the King Plant and Highway 95 Ospreys the week of July 6th. I'll provide more info when I have it. I'm hoping to learn pole spiking before then...

Here are some random banding pictures - enjoy!



Bob and Jeremy on Maiden Rock. It's nice to get a good ledge! This was Bob's 100th rappel on a river cliff. The rock was somewhat loose here, so the overhang was also welcome. That big rattlesnake? He was maybe 50-75 feet overhead, sunning on the edge of the drop.



Ben on West Bluff. He climbed into the eyrie to get the baby falcons.



The eyrie at West. This is an excellent place for baby falcons - very, very hard to reach! Ben balanced on a ledge, Bob lowered the sky kennel to me, and I swung it over to Ben. He loaded the baby falcons out and very, very gently let the kennel go. Bob raised it and I helped get it past the overhang. This is a three-person site for sure.

Looking up Lake Pepin from West. There were miles of sky. This is one of the prettiest views I've ever seen.

Me at West, watching Ben do all the work. It wasn't until after I was hanging in space that Bob told me I was just where Dave had almost severed his rope last year. At least I wasn't trying to swing into the eyrie.


Eyrie at West, outlined in red. Ben rappeled down the crackline to the left and eased over the ledge to get to the eyrie. I was stationed under the overhang at the above right of the eyrie.

Any excuse to go to Duluth is good, but peregrine banding is my favorite! This year, Elizabeth, Rebekah, and Isaac joined Bob, Jeremy, and myself at Greysolon Plaza and Minnesota Power and Light's ML Hibbard plant.

We started at Greysolon Plaza, where Julie O'Conner and Crew from Hawk Ridge had spotted three babies in the box. A crew from Venture North had showed up to film the event, so we decided to band the babies inside the Greysolon Building. Bob, Jeremy, myself, Miriam, and photographer Michael Furtman went up to the roof, while everyone else stayed downstairs. This was a good thing, since Amy the falcon was in fine form. She started strafing runs almost as soon as we got up on the roof.

Bob, Jeremy, and I got the window washing rig (all the tires had air!) and pushed it over by the nestbox. Rigging up to go over a wall is a little different than rigging to go over a cliff, especially when Amy is on the attack. In this case, the anchor is set around two eyebolts attached to the rig. The rope goes straight up the middle, through a gap designed to allow it to pass. So, you set the anchor, pull the rope through, climb to the top of the rig, and attach to it to your grigri while ducking the falcon. These photographs are from Michael Furtman's excellent website. I'm going to be buying some prints.

I got all that done, and went over the wall. I'm used to having a rope bag attached to my leg, but in this case, the forward and tag ends of the rope are both going back down - one to the anchor and one to the bag, which sits on the roof. It is very, very important to make sure you have your hand on the tag end of the rope, not the anchor end. Normally, this isn't something you have to think about, since the rope bag makes it real easy to remember, and you usually have a chance to get good and on the gear before going down, and a falcon isn't attacking you while you rig. But you do have to take care here.

I position to the side of the nestbox and whap, Amy hits me. Head down and whap, Amy hits me. Quick look up to see where she is. Ah, circling back for another run. I reach in the box and grab baby one - maybe 17 to 19 days old, the perfect age for banding. Into the box she goes. Whap! Amy hits me. It's a good thing I shop at Target, since she ripped up the left shoulder on my tshirt - possibly just seconds after this photograph was taken. I love this falcon!

We also had a very nice surprise - there were four babies in the nestbox this year! After last year's experience, when all the babies but one died from Frounce, this was a great thing to see. I got all of them into our sky kennel, Jeremy and Bob pulled it up, and we took them down into the building. We were in a hurry, so Bob banded.

It was hot and we didn't want to put the babies back in the kennel, so we had some volunteers sit, with their legs in a big circle, and mind the babies. I'm not sure who the adult is. The children are Isaac and Elizabeth. Rebekah also minded a falcon, whom she nicknamed 'Screech'. Screech was the vocal one of the group. Elizabeth, my oldest, announced afterwards that she wants to begin coming with and helping. I'm glad she had fun - I'm glad everyone had fun! It was wonderful to see these healthy young peregrines. Make sure to visit Julie O'Conner at PeregrineWatch on the Lake Walk in Duluth - watching these guys learn to fly will be quite a treat!

After Greysolon, we headed for the Hibbard Plant. The kids had to stay in my van here, since this is a working power plant - not a good place for children! I parked where they could watch the action, if they liked, and we headed up. Bob's shoulder was sore from Maiden Rock, so he asked Jeremy and I to go up and band. It's maybe a 75-foot ladder climb here - not too bad - on the outside of the stack. The plant provides harnesses and fall protection, which you clip into with a dynamic lanyard. However, the drop would be roughly 8 - 10 feet on the lanyard, so I have to say that I would not want to put it to the test.

The female here is the same as last year, *Y/6. She is downright polite when compared to Amy. Jeremy got the three babies one at a time and I banded them. There were two males and one female. We did not draw blood - I've drawn twice this year (successfully, both times!) - but it was windy and I was nervous. I'm going to get a bag of needles and practice on oranges over the winter. That's how they do it in nursing school.

We got back down and that was the end of it. Total: 7 baby peregrines banded in Duluth, 1 ripped shirt, and 1 very, very good day.

Is it just me, or is it funny that the word verification to post this blog was preen.

You know you've been to a lot of falcon bandings when everyone ignores the banders to take pictures of the rattlesnake sunning itself just 40 feet from the drop spot.Of course, the snake was as thick as a baseball bat. Then again, you know you're in a crowd of nature enthusiasts when one person yells "Rattlesnake!", and everyone else runs toward him.

We banded at four sites on Tuesday, June 9th: West Bluff, just north of Maiden Rock, Maiden Rock, 12-Mile Bluff, right behind the Alma power plant, and Bay State Flour Milling in Winona, MN - my first flour mill! The crew consisted of Bob Anderson, his son Jeremy Anderson, Ben Ogren, and Amy Ries. We were joined by a number of people, including John Dingley, Gary Grunwald, Doug Wood, John Thiel, and several others.

We started right in with West Bluff. Ben Ogren, Bob, and I looked at West from down at the bottom. This is the cliff where Dave nearly severed his rope last year attempting to swing into the eyrie. Ben decided he would rappel down and climb into the eyrie instead. I would drop with him, get him the kennel, and provide whatever support I could. Let me explain something for any climbers that might be reading this - we weren't rigging for climbing on a dynamic rope, but for rappeling and working on a static rope. For you nonclimbers, the shock of a fall on static line is taken by your body and anchor, not the rope. Static falls can break bones, severely damage tissue, and break or rip out gear and anchors. It was critical that Ben avoid falling.

We got up to the top and I dropped to age the babies. Just as I got under the overhang, Bob said, "Oh, by the way, that's the spot where Dave almost severed his rope last year, so be careful." I avoided a clever response, rappeled down to the eyrie to age the babies (age: okay for banding) and kicked back to watch the Ben Ogren show. After all, the Boss had told me to be careful!

Ben got over the edge just fine (he's experienced), but had a brief moment of losing it when he got into position for climbing over to the eyrie. Our look from below completely failed to convey the sketchiness of our placement, the sheer and utter crappyness of the loosest, most brittle rock imaginable, and the lodging of Ben's rock in a large crack that was filled with sharp edges. "How hasn't one of you died!?" Ben yelled. I yelled back something encouraging about how badly the rock sucked, and Ben asked me to tell him whether or not his foot placements were good as he eased across a narrow ledge into the eyrie. I gave him feet and hand suggestions while he climbed, managed the rope and got into the eyrie. Out of the fire and into the frying pan: I lowered the kennel, he filled it with four lustily vocalizing, footing baby monsters (peregrines), and up the they went.

West is impossibly beautiful. I hope that Ben sends me photographs for posting. It looks north towards the mouth of Lake Pepin. We were about the tallest thing around, and you could see the river valley for miles. The eyrie was large and well protected by an overhang, so the babies were safe from weather, raccoons, and (judging by the whitewash and their overall health) starvation. We found blue jay remains and spotted the head of a black bird about 5 feet below us. Blue jay remains showed up at several sites this year.

Bob and Jeremy banded the young falcons and I lowered the kennel down, using my height (I was hanging in air about 12 to 15 feet above him), to gently swing the kennel over. He grabbed it, used a daisy chain to back it up to his harness, and was again repeatedly footed while getting the babies back into the eyrie. Up we went. I had to work my way out from under a very large overhang, on gear only, while Ben had to climb back out of the eyrie and carefully take up rope until he could swing out without falling. It was quite an adventure!

We headed to Maiden Rock next. Here's a photograph with the eyrie marked. It's roughly in the middle of the bluff this year, not on the point. Bob was excited about his 100th rappel on river cliffs here - and a little worried about disturbing baseball-sized rattlesnakes after Ben spotted one. Bob and Jeremy celebrated his 100th rappel together with a first-ever father-son banding on the cliff - Bob thought the rock was a little too loose to haul the babies up, and there was a bit of an overhang there as well. They banded three healthy young falcons at Maiden Rock.

You know, I ended up setting anchors for other people this year. That's a difficult thing to do. I'll willingly go down an anchor I set, but it is hard to watch other people do the same thing - I'm much more nervous for them than I would be for myself. It was a real relief to see Jeremy come up, or hear Bob get to the bottom. The life of a rappeler is at least partly in the hands of the anchor setter. It's not easy to get used to.

We pulled up gear and headed for 12-Mile bluff, a big crumbly bluff behind the Alma power plant. They were nesting in the exact same spot they nested two years ago - a hole way down the wall, almost even with the treeline. I climbed through the dead snag from hell, tossed all the loose rock I could see from the top of the bluff, and rappeled through a cedar tree down to the first terrace, where I sheltered under an overhang until Jeremy joined me. I went down another eight to ten feet to get the babies. There were four healthy youngsters in a small hole sheltered by an overhang. Had the parents nested on the ledge above, the babies would have been eaten by racoons - there was racoon poop all over! They were safe and well fed here, however. The prey remains were well picked over and not real obvious to me, but I believe I saw some warbler remains, judging by the size of the feet and the cliff's location on river bottom land.

Bob got the kennel up through the cedar tree and the snag. They quickly banded the babies and dropped them back. I earned a few footings but got them into the eyrie and Jeremy and I headed down the cliff and on to the talus. As nasty as that was, neither one of us was interested in climbing back up through the cedar snag. This bluff also has a lot of loose rock, which poses a very real danger to humans and young falcons alike. The less disturbance, the better!

We took a quick break to try to get band numbers while we watched the male peregrine eat a pigeon. I'm glad he got dinner, since we went straight to Bay State Milling in Winona. About 10 years ago, a girl named Maggie Lubinski put a nestbox on the roof of Bay, where her father works, as part of a 4-H project. The box sat mostly empty until this year, when two falcons nested there. The adult female is Chicklet, a 2005 hatch from Dairyland Power Genoa. We don't know who the male is yet.

Bob, Jeremy, Doug, the plant manager, and a plant employee all headed up to get the falcons. We needed hairnets, a beardnet (for Bob), and special harnesses to stay safe on the roof. We loaded three babies into the kennel, brought them down into the plant's entrance, and banded them for everyone to see. There is a nice story about it here:

http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2009/06/10/news/05raptors0610.txt

It was a good day on the river.

April 2nd and 3rd River Survey

I began this river survey starting at the small cliff on the confluence of the Root River and the Mississippi River. I have not spent a great deal of time at this bluff in past years owing to the fact that it does not overlook a wide body of water. I did not find any falcons or see any mutes.

I only stopped for a brief minute down below Great Spirit Bluff and quickly found an adult female falcon perched in a dead snag directly above the cliff mounted nest box.

We have sometimes observed falcons at the Trempeleau, WI cliff that can be seen from the Minnesota side of the river. In four river trips so far this season I have not seen a falcon on this cliff.

Homer, MN cliff: This cliff has attracted falcons for the last three seasons. Last year when checking the eyrie, Neil Rettig dropped his cell phone off of the top of the cliff. Surprisingly, the cell phone still worked when found near the bottom of the large cliff. To not have falcons on this historic nest site after two productive nesting seasons is odd and frustrating.

Hussen’s Cliff: During my last river survey on 3/26/09, we found two adult falcons defending this cliff. On 4/2/09 no falcons were observed. Last year, at the end of the breeding season, I hiked to the top of the cliff and rappelled down several areas. I could not locate any suitable nest ledge that raccoons could not easily access. The owners of this cliff have agreed to allow us to install a small nest box should there be failure again this year.

As I approached Pepin Heights cliff just south of Lake City, MN I could see a bird perched in a snag on the Burr Oak located on the top of this cliff. As we have permission, I raced up the back way to the top of this cliff knowing that I could get a band number from a vantage point used in past seasons. However, my mind played a trick on me. The bird turned out to be a crow. Falcons were observed on this cliff in 2008 and in 2007, but no falcons have been seen in four river surveys so far this year.

I did not stop by the Horizon Milling plant on this trip owing to the fact that we confirmed 29/A is back and was the first of our nest sites to lay an egg once again this year. At this writing, the falcons are about a week into incubation. Look for the first young to hatch the first few days of May.

Red Wing Grain; Red Wing, MN: The adult female *M/D is back again. She laid her first egg on 4/3/09.

I crossed the river in Red Wing and made my way upstream to the Diamond Bluff cliff where we mounted a nest box on the big wall about 18 years ago. Each year since I have made a point to check this cliff, and each year I am disappointed to not find falcons. This cliff is set way back from the river and we have learned that nesting falcons prefer a cliff that directly overlooks a wide body of water.

Turning back down stream, I stopped to view the large cliff overlooking the rail road tracks and river near Bay City, WI. This cliff will someday have falcons. I was able to observe several eagles and a red-tail hawk fly directly out front of this cliff without being challenged. I also noticed that there is a home on the top of this cliff and we need to contact the owners for assistance in monitoring.

I stopped only for a few minutes down below West Bluff near Maiden Rock, WI. I heard a male falcon making a courting wail before traffic forced me to drive off. Two land owners up top of the cliff have reported seeing the falcons defending this historic cliff. This is the cliff where last year they had nested under a large overhang that prevented us from reaching the three young falcons. Dave Kester attempted to swing into the wall and with each swing, his rope began to fray on a sharp rock. Fortunately, I noticed this and had Dave switch to my rope until he got above the frayed part of his rope. It was then that we noticed that this new rope did not have any outer protection like our other static ropes. This rope will never be used again.

I only spent a few minutes down below the large Maiden Rock cliff and did not see any falcons. However, falcons have been seen on each of the past surveys and the people from West Wisconsin Land Trust have also reported seeing two falcons defending.

I spent only a few minutes at Twin Bluffs in Nelson, WI. In past seasons we have seen some falcon activity at these two large bluffs. So far this year I have not seen a falcon.

Maassen’s Bluff north of Alma, WI: It was great to meet with Gary Grunwald once again. When Gary returned from his winter haunts in Florida the falcons had once again beat him back. Gary and I observed the adult female fly into the eyrie that we added pea-gravel to several years ago. We also witnessed an adult male Harrier stoop like a falcon at the adult male falcon perched in a dead cedar snag near the top of the cliff. The harrier made a second stoop then went back up in a soar and drifted off. The adult falcon never left his perch.

Alma Marina cliff: Gary reported seeing two falcons defending this historic cliff a few days before my visit. I was most disappointed to not find falcons on territory during my visit. This cliff has but one good ledge that in the last couple of season had nesting Great Horned Owls. I did not see any owls up in the pot-hole and can only wonder what happened to the defending falcons.

12 Mile Bluff across from the Dairyland Alma power plant: It appears that the falcons are going to nest on the cliff once again this year and not in the nest box up on the stack. We have seen falcons using the perch up at the stack nest as a hunting perch, but most courting activity is taking place on the cliff. How great it is to have a stack nesting pair of falcons also use a river cliff!

Fountain City, WI: Doug Wood, who lives down below this cliff, is our eyes and ears for this nest site. He has confirmed two adult falcons on territory. We have also heard that a local pigeon enthusiast is experiencing some losses of pigeons but is accepting the predation so far, since he is impressed by the falcons' hunting prowess. We hope this respect continues.

No falcons were observed at Indian Head Bluff south of Fountain City this year.

I only stopped for a few minutes down below Castle Rock and did not see a falcon, although I had seen them on each of the past surveys. However, Doug Wood reported not seeing a falcon during a lengthy observation on 4/4/09. I hope this site is productive as in past years, but we are finding less falcon activity on the river cliffs this year.

I crossed the river to Winona, anxious to confirm a report of falcons at Bay State Milling on the south edge of town. We worked with a young teenager named Maggie Lubinski about ten years ago, who constructed two falcon nest boxes for this plant as a 4H project. The nest box has attracted the occasional falcon off and on over the years but for the most part has sat empty since falcons took to the nearby Castle Rock cliff about two miles away. Well 2009 looks promising. Two adult falcons are defending this nest box. The adult female is 43/D, a 2005HY falcon from the Dairyland Power Alma power plant. I did not get a good look at the adult male, but this nest box is only about 230 up with great viewing locations down below. We should get the male’s band on the next visit. There is great interest by the plant employees for their nesting falcons. Everyone is amazed at disappearance of the local pigeon population. It is worth noting that Bay State Milling is located directly between the Castle Rock cliff on the Wisconsin side of the river and the Homer cliff on the MN side. Both cliffs are about two miles away. After leaving Winona, I returned to the Homer cliff. I didn't see falcons, but I could clearly see the Bay State Milling stack house and nest box from directly below the Homer cliff. Did the Homer falcons move to this nest box?

On 4/3/09 I set off for McGregor, IA with hopes to read the band numbers on the Agri Bunge stack house. We mounted this nest box about ten years ago. It attracted a single falcon the following year and sat empty the last nine years. Not now! We have two adult falcons on site. It is interesting to speak to the employees at this plant, who are amazed at the overnight loss of the large resident pigeon population. Dave Kester reported the adult male having a b/g band on his left leg and no band on his right. I spent three hours trying to read his band and only could make out the letter D in the upper portion. This is the second falcon that I know that has lost his BBL band. Sometimes when making the crimp with the anodized BBL bands we see a crack form on the crimp bend. It must be these cracks that are causing the band failure.

I crossed the river at the Prairie Du Chien bridge and made my way upstream to the cliff at Lock and Dam 9. I spent the better part of an hour without seeing a falcon. In 2006 this cliff attracted an immy female and adult male that failed to breed. In 2007 this cliff attracted a new immy female and adult male that produced two young falcons. One died after being bumped from the small ledge by the adult female. In 2008 this cliff attracted an adult female falcon and immature male falcon that failed to breed. So far in several visits this spring I have not seen a falcon.

I headed upstream to visit the Lynxville, WI cliffs, determined to locate the chosen cliff and nest location. I first parked down below Larson’s Bluff and did not see any falcon activity for a long time. I then drove to the upstream cliff and positioned myself so that I could see both cliff walls. After about 30 minutes I saw my first falcon. I found a place to park my car, grabbed the scope and made my way across two railroad tracks, determined to nail down the nesting location. It is apparent why the cliff attracts falcons - it is quite large and directly overlooks the water.

I located an adult female falcon perched in a dead snag with a huge crop. So large I don’t think she could see her toes. After about 30 minutes an adult male flew in with a grackle in his talons and landed about five feet directly above the female. He proceeded to pluck his prey and feathers were flying. The adult female appeared to be dozing. I could see a purple band on the adult male right leg and a b/g band on his left. The dozing female had a branch blocking most the view of her legs, but I did see purple on her right leg. After so many cliff sites that have failed already this year it is rewarding to see this pair of falcons that look promising for production once again.

I crossed back over the river at the Lansing, IA bridge and made my way to Dead Cow Bluff where we mounted a nest box several years ago. This is the first year that I have not seen a falcon visit this nest box. With a scope you can see the poorly constructed fence running the top of this bluff. Hence the unusual name.

The Lansing power plant falcons will be a cliff nesting pair from now on. We removed the nest box from up on the stack owing to stack emission monitoring now taking place where the nest box was mounted. There is a huge construction effort taking place at this plant that will prevent us from using the back side of the plant to view the cliff. I’m hoping that in a week or so, we can access the stack elevator to get a good look at the cliff face and determine where the falcons are nesting this season.

In closing, it is apparent that our cliff numbers will be down this year. We have witnessed growth of the river cliff nesting population for the last nine years. However, it does look like our numbers will be down in 2009. Can only hope that this year is an aberration.

I have plans for another river survey later this week.

Bob Anderson

The Blue Meany, Migrating Raptors and the Falcon Effigies of the Mississippi River

For the better part of five decades, the Peregrine falcon was absent from nesting on the lovely cliffs of the Upper Mississippi River. Re-introduction efforts have now returned the peregrine to these historical haunts. During the 50-year absence of territorial falcons, any and all migrating birds of prey could follow this major flyway each spring on their way to their northern nest site locations without the peregrine falcon to teach them where they could fly - and where they couldn’t. Things have changed. We now have close to 20 cliffs on the Upper Mississippi River that have attracted some level of falcon activity.

During the last two springs, National Geographic has been documenting various birds of prey having to run the gauntlet of Mississippi River falcons. Sometimes, one only has to spend a short time near these cliffs to witness the falcons brutally hammering unaware birds of prey that make the sometimes fatal mistake of flying too close to the cliff wall. Over the last few years we have witnessed the river falcons pummeling Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, Red-tail hawks, Great Horned owls, ospreys, and turkey vultures. At this writing, near the first of April, the falcons have set up territory but have yet to lay their eggs. It is a great time to observe nature’s top gun defending the river bluffs. It can be quite a show.

When we first began our falcon cliff releases, we learned of the many falcon effigies constructed by indigenous peoples centuries ago. These falcon effigies are quite large, some with wing spans of hundreds of feet. The native peoples constructed these large effigies by hauling soil to the cliff tops to construct the mounds. Some of these effigies are in the shape of bears and eagles and some clearly the outline shape of the peregrine falcon. It should not surprise anyone that the indigenous peoples were inspired by this relatively small falcon that will bravely take on many larger birds of prey.

I will be gathering images and measurements of the falcon effigies along the Mississippi River for a later publication. However, it now makes sense just why our native peoples were so moved by the Duck Hawk.

(Amy's note: falcon effigies can be found at Effigy Mounds National Monument - the place our release project began. For more information, visit http://www.nps.gov/efmo)

March 21st 2009 Mississippi River cliff survey for peregrine falcons
I arrived at Leo’s Bluff at 9:00 AM and met with Pat Schlarbaum and two friends. They had been there since first light. It was good to break out the spotting scope and within a few minutes capture the band number on the adult female, identified as *K/*W, the same female as last year. The adult male is unbanded. The adult male last year was also an unbanded bird. I was determined to survey as many cliffs as possible and only stayed long enough to determine the band status of the adult falcons. Pat Schlarbaum and his friends stayed for a while longer before setting off to watch the falcons at the nestbox on the Agri-Bunge stack house in McGregor, IA. This is a new site for us. Pat reported lots of falcon activity and was impressed with the city park viewing location.

I confirmed two adult falcons at the Alliant Energy Lansing, IA power plant cliff. The nest box has been permanently removed from the nearby stack and the falcons from now on will be cliff-nesting birds. Last summer we rappelled down several areas of this cliff wall trying to determine a way to deter raccoons from accessing the falcons’ ledge. There is a major construction project at this plant that prevents us from using the back area of the plant to view the cliff. The only places this year to view the falcons is a small opening in the trees directly below the cliff, or from the top of the bluff.

I found a single adult falcon at the Shellhorn Bluff near Brownsville, MN. The falcon was not wailing or making courting sounds. My guess is that we only have this single falcon as of this writing.

I found two falcons at Great Spirit Bluff near La Crescent, MN.

I found two falcons at Queen’s Bluff, aka the Bandshell.

I spent some time watching the Trempeleau, WI cliff from the MN side of the river. The light on the cliff at 11:30 AM was ideal. I did not see any falcons. Upon my return back down river that afternoon, I noticed that the light at 4:30 PM was still lighting up the cliff face.

I did not see a falcon on the Homer, MN cliff during my AM or PM visit.

As I approached Hussen’s Bluff near Minnieska, MN I saw one male falcon giving chase to another male falcon. He escorted the intruder away and returned to the cliff, landing close to an adult female. This cliff is one of the smallest cliffs I have seen with territorial falcons. When a young immature Bald Eagle made the dumb mistake of flying too close to the small cliff, both adult falcons gave chase. Later, when meeting with the owners of the cliff, they asked me if I saw the falcons hammering the eagle directly over their house. Last summer I hiked to the top of the bluff and was disappointed that only one falcon remained on site and this bird was no longer defending the cliff. I rappelled down several parts of the cliff wall and could not locate any potential nest ledge that raccoons could not have access. If this pair fails to be productive this year we are going to mount an artificial rock eyrie on a mammalian-proof part of the cliff wall.

I did not find a falcon at the Pepin Heights cliff just south of Lake City, MN. I found two adult falcons at Horizon Milling. I was able to confirm that the very aggressive falcon named Lolo 29/A is once again on site.

As I was driving into the city of Red Wing, MN I could see two falcons stooping at two people on the roof of the Red Wing Grain building. This nest can be seen from most anywhere in town and the falcons could easily be seen and heard trying to drive the intruders away from their nest. I wonder what the public thinks when we carry out the bandings each summer.

I crossed the river at the bridge in Red Wing, MN and made my way down to West Bluff. I only took a few minutes owing to the lack of parking down below this cliff and did not see any falcons during my short visit. However, the owners of the cliff have become keen supporters and I am confident that they will contact us again when they see falcons.

I did not see any falcons during a ten minute stay at Maiden Rock, but Amy Ries confirmed a falcon on this cliff an hour prior.

I found a single adult falcon at Maassen’s Bluff, but Amy Ries saw two falcons earlier in the day. Gary Grunwald, our falcon enthusiast that lives below this cliff, is on his way back from his Florida haunts. When Gary returns he will quickly locate which area of this huge cliff the falcons are using.

I met with Doug and Becky Wood in Fountain City, WI. Doug confirmed that one falcon is back and very probably just arrived this same day.

No falcons were seen at Indian Head south of Fountain City, WI where in past seasons we have observed some falcon activity. Maybe this year?

Two adult falcons have been back on Castle Rock cliff for at least ten days according to Doug Wood.

No falcons were seen at the Alma Marina cliff where Great Horned Owls have claimed the single pot hole on this cliff face.

I did find one adult falcon at 12 Mile Bluff directly across from the Alma, WI power plant. In the past, the falcons have nested both up in the stack nest box and on the nearby cliff wall. The next few weeks should tell where they will end up this season. If they are not being found on camera up on the stack, they will be on the cliff.

Logged 330 miles.


Brief status of RRP nest sites.

1. MN Power Cohasset, MN: Status unknown as of this date. The plant is trying to get the camera repaired. Last year this pair failed to hatch their eggs due to the very cold weather.
2. MN Power Duluth plant: There has been some discussion to relocate or remove the nest box at this plant. Two years ago, the aggressive falcons prevented a required stack inspection. The decision to leave the nest box in place or relocate the nest box to another area of the plant will be at the direction of plant management.
3. Xcel Energy SHERCO plant near Becker, MN: Two falcons have been on territory for several weeks now. Dan Orr feels that we could expect the first egg most any day now. We now have a camera in this nest and egg/young status will be easy to follow.
4. Xcel Energy Monticello plant: This is a low pressure nuclear plant and access is limited. Dan Orr has taken over all aspects of managing and banding young falcons at this plant.
5. Great River Energy Elk River, MN: This plant has what I think is one of the best bird camera systems that I know of. You can get live video and live audio of this nest. The other day at 7:00 AM in the morning two adult falcons were fighting inside the nest box. The live video and audio only made watching this brutal battle only uglier. Don’t know for sure who won the battle.
6. Xcel Energy Riverside plant MPLS, MN: Over the last several years an un-banded female falcon has owned this nest box 400’ up the stack. This un-banded female goes through the courting motions but fails to lay eggs each season. We should find out very soon if she is back once again. The stack at this plant is scheduled to be razed in the next year or two. When the stack is removed, we will mount a new nest box on one of the tallest structures of the plant overlooking the river.
7. Xcel Energy Blackdog plant Eagan, MN: Once again we have falcons back at this nest box located 620’ up on the stack. In 2008 we found the remains of the aggressive adult female Nora along with the remains of an immature falcon at the bottom of a gas turbine stack . Recently, the remains of three of last year’s progeny were found in this same place. My first reaction was to pull the nest box to prevent future deaths. However, in giving it more thought, I felt that we need to address this problem for the entire industry as more and more power plants are switching from coal to this type of gas turbine facility. Dan Orr has located some large spikes made by a company in England. The spikes are designed to deter birds from perching. We are hoping to install these spikes to the top rim of the 320’ stack to discourage falcons from perching. The gas turbine plant is what is called an off peak plant. When there is increased need for electricity for air conditioning in the summer and heat in the dead of winter is when this turbine comes on line. When not in use, the rim of the 320 stack is a perch. Our hopes are to find a way to deter falcons/birds from this problem area and to make recommendations to the manufacturer of this design of electric turbine generation facility.
8. Xcel Energy Highbridge plant St. Paul, MN: The nest box was removed from this plant before the 2008 nesting season and the stack was imploded. We installed a nest box a short distance upstream from the plant at an ADM facility. The falcons went to the nearby High Bridge to nest in 2008 instead of using the ADM nest box.
9. Xcel Energy King plant Oak Park Heights, MN: It was 21 years ago that we installed the first power plant falcon nest box at this plant. The nest is located at the 400’ level of the 800’ stack. We know that the resident adult female remained on site all last winter. We have yet to confirm the bands on the adult male. With a fancy pan/tilt and zoom camera; we will quickly confirm band numbers as visits to the nest increase. The unique falcon plant program began at this plant in 1988. As the falcon power plant program expanded since that time two decades ago; we are very close to witnessing our 1,000th young falcon fledged from a mid-west power plant. What unique marriage. What an incredible contribution to falcon recovery.
10. Xcel Energy Prairie Island nuclear plant Red Wing, MN: The nest box at this plant is mounted to the top of the vertical wall of a containment dome. We anticipate this nest to be productive as it has each year since it was first installed many years ago. We have had some discussions about relocating the nest box to an area near the top of the containment dome that would not require rappelling. We are also looking at installing cameras at that time.
11. Red Wing Grain Red Wing, MN: The falcons have been back at this nest box now for over two weeks. The camera at this nest will help determine hatch and banding dates. Several elementary schools in the Red Wing area follow the Red Wing Grain falcons in the internet.
12. Horizon Milling Lake City, MN: Camera to provided egg/young status
13. Pepin Heights cliff south of Lake City, MN: We will continue to monitor this cliff that has attracted falcons in 2007 and 2008.
14. Dairyland Alma, WI plant: As mentioned earlier, we have yet to determine if the falcons will nest up on the stack or the nearby cliff.
15. Dairyland Genoa, WI plant: Two falcons are defending this stack nest once again this year. Last week there was a brutal battle inside the nest box witnessed by several falcon cam followers. No dead falcon has been found at the plant.
16. Alliant Energy Nelson Dewey plant Cassville, WI. The adult male falcon G/V was found dead at the plant this last year. The camera at the plant works off and on. Need to visit the plant to determine status.
17. US Bank La Crosse, WI: On 3/6/09 I installed a camera in this nest box and while completing the last of the few minute installation, two falcons began to protest. Our hopes are to run the video/audio signal down to the building lobby where the public and see and hear the nesting falcons.
18. Agri-Bunge stack house McGregor, IA: We installed this nest box about ten years ago. The year following the installation it attracted a single male peregrine falcon then sat empty for many years. In 2008 we had an adult male and immature female in residence that failed to be productive. This year, two adult falcons are claiming the nest.

Along with the above nest box sites, we monitor over twelve cliffs on the Wisconsin side of the river, six on the Minnesota side, and 4 in Iowa. I will carry out another cliff survey next week.

First Mississippi River falcon survey on 3/13/09
Report by Bob Anderson

I met Dave Kester and Leo, his son just outside of Waukon Junction, IA on the morning of 3/13/09. I knew we were in for a fun day when Dave pointed out to Leo two adult Bald Eagles and Leo responded, “No Dad, there are three eagles.” He was correct. We had very cold weather for the week prior, but the weather man/person promised a day of sun and temperatures above freezing. We were anxious to search for falcons on bluffs. At a small cliff we call Leo’s Bluff a short distance upstream from Waukon Junction, IA we immediately located an adult falcon perched on a dead cedar snag high on the cliff wall. We also heard another falcon making the courting wailing call a bit downstream. Our soon-to-be-five year-old apprentice was wondering what could be so exciting looking at a white blob up in a tree. We were pleased to find two falcons on our first cliff of the survey.

At the Lansing, IA power plant cliff we quickly located two adult falcons. This is an interesting nest site. In past years when we made a nest box available up on the power plant stack, the falcon would be productive. However, we removed the stack nest box and mounted a nest box to the cliff wall a few years ago. When the falcons nested in this cliff nest box they were also productive. Over the last few years the falcons have ignored the cliff nest box and moved to a large ledge mid wall on the cliff. Oddly, the falcons continue to use this ledge even though year after year their eggs or young have been depredated by raccoons. This last summer we rappelled down the cliff wall at several places, hoping to locate just where the raccoons access the ledge and install some sort of deterrent. We were not able to determine the exact access point. Once again this year, production on this cliff will be determined by where the falcons nest and access by raccoons.

We crossed the river in Lansing, Iowa and made our way to the series of cliffs near Lynxville, WI. We did not find falcons on site on this day but noticed that the river was still frozen. We continued downstream to the cliff at Lock and Dam 9 and did not find falcons, probably due to the river still frozen in this region.

We crossed the river once again in Prairie du Chien, WI and headed to McGregor, IA where last year we attracted an adult male falcon and immature female falcon to a nest box on the milling stack house that towers over this small river town. We did not find falcons on Friday the 13th, but Dave returned to the stack house the next day and was pleased to confirm an adult peregrine on site. We first mounted this nest box about ten years ago and maybe, just maybe, 2009 will be the year for success.

I will carry out a river survey searching the cliffs and nest boxes upstream on the west side of the river from Lansing, IA to Red Wing, MN and all of the WI cliffs and nest boxes later this week. It will be nice to re-new friendships with the cliff land owners and with luck, find new cliff sites with territorial falcons.

Here we go again…..

Bob Anderson

Banding Prairie Island - by Guest Blogger Frank Sperlak

On Wednesday 6/11/08, plant employees Mark Kenall and Frank Sperlak made the climb to the top of the U-1 Containment dome along with Raptor Resource Project (RRP) members Bob Anderson, Amy Ries, and Dan Berger. The team was on a tight schedule as they were going to be in the area that day only. We were scheduled to be the first of three banding sites for the Project that day. The sky looked menacing, but we were able to complete the banding between rain showers.

It was interesting to have the opportunity to talk Peregrines with Dan Berger, who now resides in California. Dan was one of the first people to study Peregrines and he started banding the birds in the early 1950’s. He is a mentor of Bob Anderson, who heads up the RRP. Dan was eager to come to our site and see the progress we have made in keeping Peregrine numbers up here in the Upper Midwest. He is both an environmentalist and a huge supporter of nuclear power.

As we expected from monitoring the nest box from the spotting scope in the Environmental Lab, there were two baby falcons. Both were females. There were also two dead eggs in the nest. What was surprising was the age difference between the babies, which are also called eyasses. They were at least a week apart in age, which Bob and Dan said was very uncommon. Usually the eggs all hatch within 24-48 hrs of each other.

The adult female was keeping an eye on the situation and voiced her displeasure as the team temporarily took custody of her babies. She is much less aggressive than most, as Bob and his team frequently get struck while banding birds at other sites. Mom Peregrine has been at this site for many years and at 15 years of age is the oldest female at any of the RRP nesting sites. She originated from the old Montgomery Wards tower in St. Paul, before it was demolished in the mid 1990’s. The adult male is unknown.

Since the nest box was installed in 1995, 35 young Peregrines have hatched from atop U-1 Containment.

-Frank Sperlak

Raptor Resource Project director Bob Anderson with the older of the two females. This was one feisty girl! She nailed Bob’s hand when he took her out of the box and continued to try to foot him while he banded. When Amy and Bob had one leg, she tried to foot him with the other. When Dan Berger held that leg, she bent over and made repeated attempts to nail him with her beak. Note the grey sky - the Raptor Resource Project was dodging storms all day long. Containment dome top, on rope cliff-side, or 400' up a coal stack - the rumble of thunder is NOT welcome!

Amy Ries and Bob Anderson band a baby falcon. Amy spent a great deal of time learning how to band this spring. Note that the falcon's leg is straight out from its body - you can never twist or pull the leg funny, so pay attention to the falcon! Let it tell you where its leg should be. Also, get a good bite on the band and grab your tools by the ends, not the middle - leverage works better that way. Take it slow and steady. Don't let the crowds bother you. If you attempt to draw blood, you have to stop shaking with nervousness. Thinking about shaking does not actually stop shaking very effectively. Have Bob band all babies when thunderstorms are coming. I'll have more to post about this subject in a later blog.

Note the difference in size between the two falcons. As Frank mentioned, the difference is unusual. Although we banded at new sites this year, it seems like productivity was a little lower in many places. The cold and snowy spring may have had an effect on our nests.

We were asked quite a bit about the size of the bands. The bands are sized appropriately for adult falcons, so the babies will not grow out of them as they age. Purple bird banding lab band on the right, black over green color band on the left. The bands help researchers track falcons. The adult female at this site came from the old Montgomery Wards building in St. Paul. She hatched in 1993, which makes her 15 years old. Yes, the feet are really, really large.

Dan Berger on rope. Climb on, Dan! I hope to see you next year.

Bandings at Maasen's Bluff and Castle Rock by Guest Blogger Dot K.

As I drove to Maassens’ Bluff, the weather radio in the car was announcing severe weather warnings – flash floods, thunder storms, tornadoes – but they were all to the north and west of where I was headed. They made their way south and east fast enough that I had to pull into a Kwik-Trip before the bridge over the river at Wabasha, MN. The Fire Department across the street had their doors open and the crew was at the ready. Fortunately, the storm continued to pass with only very heavy rain and after a 10-minute delay, I was on the road again to Maassens' Bluff.

I got there a little before our 10 a.m. meeting time. Gary Grunwald, Doug Wood and several friends and people from the DNR were already there. Bob and Dan, Amy and Joan, and Dave soon arrived and we were ready to head up to the top of the bluff. We could drive most of the way along a track between the restored prairie and the woods. It is very beautiful – wildflowers and prairie grass.

We parked the vehicles and headed the short way up to the bluff face. The falcons were kak-kak-ing away when we got up toe the top of the bluff. Amy, Dave and Bob went over the side optimistic they would find young falcons in the eyrie. Disappointment set in when only one unhatched egg --- and a white on at that --- was found in the eyrie. Upon reflection, it was though that perhaps it was a pigeon egg since it did not have the coloration of a falcon egg. The rain had stopped, the sky was beautiful – we could see some sun. But no young falcons to band was disappointing.

We arrived at Castle Rock an hour behind schedule. It looked even more intimidating than I remembered, but somehow I felt I could make it to the top. Bob broke off a nice walking stick for me and we slogged up a wet, slippery and barely discernable trial to the top. It was tough – at one point, I wanted to just lie down and let the mosquitoes eat me. A lot of the way I climbed on all fours. We made it up to the top slowly, but by the end, Amy and Dave were doing most of the carrying. I was pretty wiped out. We got to the top Amy noticed that the sky was getting dark and it looked like rain was heading for us so she and Dave roped up and went over the side and quickly found the eyrie and the eyasses. Bob acted as the pivot point and Joan fed the rope to lower the carrier down to retrieve the eyasses for banding.

Just as the carrier came over the top, Bob said, “Is that a drop of rain?” It was OK, the raindrops felt good as we were hot and sweaty (or glistening). What started as a couple of drops got heavier as we were banding them. There were four big, feisty eyasses, two female and two male. Joan held the eyasses while Bob banded and I wrote down their band numbers. We got them back in their carrier and lowered it down to Amy and Dave, who waited out of the rain at the eyrie. They got them out of the carrier and safely back in the eyrie. Both then climbed back and just as Dave got over the top, the skies opened.

We packed up the gear as fast as we could and started down. The rain was like a torrent – I know I went down a good part of the way on my behind – we made very fast progress because we were slipping and sliding from tree to tree. Our clothes were soaked; the gear we were carrying was becoming increasingly wet and heavy with water. My glasses were sheeted with rain; I could barely see and because my hands and my clothes were covered with mud, there was nothing I could do but scrunch them down on my nose and peer over the top as I was slip-slided my way down that bluff using far too many four-letter words.

It was scary and fun at the same time. Both Joan and I were carrying ropes in backpacks. Amy was carrying the falcon transporter with the rope used to lower it and Dave and Bob were carrying their ropes and climbing gear so we were really laden down. We were so strangely happy to see the bulldozer that was clearing more land to build more houses in this beautiful, secluded area. The first time I went up Castle Rock in 2005, there were maybe one or two houses. Now there were another four or five big houses already built and the land was cleared for perhaps two more.

I said to Amy “see this stick that I’m using as a walking stick – well I’m going to keep this as a souvenir and if I say I’m going to climb Castle Rock next year, I want you to beat me over the head with it.” But, God willing, I’ll do it again next year. To end this on a positive note, the rain did clear away all the mosquitoes – we encountered none on our way down.

Dot K

How many ways are there to say rain? After Saturday's torrent at Castle Rock, we retired to Joan's beautiful place in Fountain City. She and her husband Jeff fixed a delicious dinner and we all headed for bed. Had we not been in southwestern Wisconsin to band falcons the rain, punctuated by thunderstorms at 10:00, 1:00, 2:00, and 4:00, would have been peaceful. As it was, I kept remembering the greasy rock at Maasens and wondering whether or not we'd be able to band anywhere on Sunday. It didn't look very promising in the morning. Every station reporting in - and there were several, including Decorah, that were not - mentioned rain, thunderstorms, flash floods. We decided to head upriver and look at Maiden Rock, just in case. After all, we could always scrub. Away the caravan went.

The sky had lightened considerably by Maiden Rock, so we decided to go for it. John Dingley, owner of the Merlin's Rest bar in Uptown Minneapolis, had a bus full of birders stopping by to see the show. The West Wisconsin Land Trust, which owns Maiden, narrated the event while we headed up.

Dave Kester and I dropped to get the babies. They were under a slight overhang in a long horizontal crack by a really large, roughly rectangular block. We wedged ourselves in and Dave caught the single baby, which he handed to me. I got it in the cage and Bob, who was the top man, pulled it up. Now I've been top man (well, top girl). I think it's harder to top, since you spend all your time backing off the cliff: not a comfortable position by any means. I'd much rather spend 30 or 40 minutes by the eyrie than 10 or 15 poised right at the edge of the cliff. Bob banded the single baby (named Winona by John's group) and dropped her back down to us. We put her back and ascended up. On to West Bluff.


West was a steep, slippery mess. We went down to the usual drop spot, only to discover that the falcons had moved upstream. We found the new spot and Dave dropped down.


The falcons were nesting in a hole under an overhang roughly 12 feet deep. Think of a plumb bob. On rope, that's how we operate - you can't hang off true without a lot of effort. Dave, who was hanging straight off the overhang, decided to swing into the hole and see if he could wedge himself in to get the babies. He swung once. He swung twice. He swung multiple times and then looked up to see that the rock was sawing his rope in two. This was bad.

With his grigri on his rope and his ascender on Bob's rope, he managed to get up off the cliff. I hope to never be in that kind of a jam again - check out Dave's rope. Seriously, that's a bad one.

We got the equipment pulled and headed for a wonderful finish at Dan and Sheila's house. Day's total: 1 banded baby, 3 unbanded babies, 1 fried rope, and at least 3 people biting their nails. At least Monday would be a day of rest. We needed it! For more pics, check out our forum.

Man, did it rain this weekend! We started the weekend banding on Friday, at the US Bank Building in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Now, I've ridden on coffin-sized industrial stack elevators, clambered up muddy hills, rappelled off bluffs, and squirmed my way through thickets of cedar and poison ivy just to band baby falcons. But this was the first time I ever strolled into a lovely lobby, stepped on a comfortable elevator, and walked over plush carpet on my way to an eyrie. I was almost disoriented by the time we got to the roof. Was I here to band falcons or make a deposit?

The roof of the US Bank Building was sunny, but very windy. Dave and Bob quickly retrieved the three young birds and brought them down to the lobby to band. You can read about the details in the LaCrosse Tribune. After LaCrosse, Dave, Bob, Dan Berger, Joan, and myself all headed to Homer Bluff, which was occupied by falcons for the first time last year. Well, the first time in 50 or so years.

Dan Berger banded the last falcons to nest on this cliff in 1952. We have something like apostolic succession happening here: Dan worked with the great naturalist Aldo Leopold. Bob works with Dan, a hero of his. Dave, myself, and the rest of us work with Bob. And so the tradition - and handshake - of Aldo Leopold is carried forward into the future. Long may it last!

Here is a picture of Dan Berger, on rope at Homer after 56 years. The eyrie isn't far from the top. Dan has just helped Dave Kester procure the babies and is working the kennel around so Bob can pull it up. Once we got the babies to the top, I worked on my banding skills and drew blood from a female. We then packed the birds up and headed to Decorah for the evening.

The next morning dawned sunny and clear. So what was up with all those rainy weather forecasts? Did the weatherman have a clue? We laughed and sucked down bagels and coffee before heading to the big river. Little did we know what was waiting us.

The sky turned dark about Hokah, and it began to rain as we headed upriver. Of course, the Winona Bridge had to closed this weekend - locals say that engineers were able to hammer through the gusset plates, they were so rusted - and we had to go up to Wabasha to cross into Wisconsin. Just about the time we hit Wabasha, the sky bucketed. We had inches of rain. We had hail. We had cupped inverted clouds with streamers that wanted to coalesce into tornados. I'd have a photograph, but I was too busy keeping my little car on the road.

I'd like to say that we found three or four healthy babies at Maasen's Bluff, but we didn't find any. They weren't in the eyrie we'd thought they were and we couldn't find them anywhere. Dave bounced around the rock like a monkey and I dropped down below the treeline and made something like a 200-foot ascent looking them. No babies. I do hope to get back there for observation before the season is over. Maybe we can find the eyrie if we see the female enter it.

After failing to find babies at Maasens, we left for Castle Rock. Castle Rock is a grueling experience. We don't have access to the top of the bluff by road, so we have to hump all the gear up a steep slope through mud, poison ivy, brambles, cane thickets, and mosquitos. Bob, Dave, Joan, Dot, and I all made the trip. Dave and I roped up on top, and off we went.
Castle Rock has a real serious pucker factor. It's a big rock bulge with an overhang immediately below. You know you have it on the line from the first approach.

Here's Dave at the top. The babies are located in an eyrie below a slightly bigger overhang, so it is a bit of a bear to get to. We did reach it, though, and pulled four healthy 28-30 day old babies for Bob, who was manning the kennel up top - a job that I think might be harder than going over. Once Bob had the kennel up top, we relaxed in the eyrie and watched rain sweep over the river valley. If it hadn't been for the occasional rumble of thunder, it would have been quite peaceful.

Bob banded the babies very quickly (see right) and sent them down to us. We got up top just before the torrential rains began. I've never been so wet in my life as I was coming down that hill. But we slipped, slid, and stumbled to the bottom. Props, crew - you all rock!

I'll tell you about Maiden Rock and Dave's near death experience in the next installment. In the meantime, check Dot's slideshow for pics or take a look at our forum.

Amy Ries

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