Pandemic peregrines get some bling

Port Washington’s three peregrine falcon chicks are sporting some bling this week.

The chicks each received two bands, one for each leg, during a banding event at the Port power plant last Thursday, along with a name selected to honor what We Energies called the heroes of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Port’s two female chicks were named Harvest, in honor of farmers, and Cheers for restaurant and bar workers while their brother was named Hugs to honor parents and guardians.

“This is a big day for them,” Greg Septon of the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Program, who banded the birds, said. “It’s not every day you get taken out of your house and given new jewelry.”

The birds received a silver Fish and Wildlife Service band on one leg and a colored project band on the other that can be easily read from a distance, making it easier to identify the birds.

The two female chicks were good sized, Septon said.

“She’s a big girl. She’s heavy,” he said of Harvest.

But the male was significantly smaller — Septon estimated he was five days younger than his sisters — and he squawked loudly and fiercely as he was removed from the carrier Septon used to bring the chicks from their nest to a conference room at the power plant.
“You’re gutsy, that’s for sure,” Septon said. “You’ve got to be loud and tough when you have two big sisters like that.” 

Male peregrines, Septon said, seem to be getting larger, perhaps 5% to 7% larger, particularly those born in urban environments.

The peregrine banding at We Energies’ power plant in Port is a rite of spring, with 69 chicks hatched in the city since 1997.

The chick’s parents are Brinn and Beasley. Mom was hatched at Split Rock State Park in Minnesota in 2012 and has been at the Port plant for eight years, while Beasley hatched in 2014 in Wauwatosa and has been in Port for five years.

Last year they had four eggs, but none hatched. This year, three of their four eggs hatched.

Septon noted that this year he will band about 60 peregrine chicks at 21 sites in Wisconsin.

Peregrines are typically banded when they are 18 to 23 days old. Any older and “they’re a handful,” he said, likely to jump from the nest when startled. Any younger and you can’t determine their gender.

Within the next three weeks, he said, they’ll be flying.

“They grow so fast,” Septon said.

Some will leave the nest quickly, he said, while others will stay for the summer.

Males, he added, generally will nest within 100 miles of their birthplace while females will stay within four miles.

But that’s not to say they won’t travel farther. Septon recalled one peregrine identified in Sheboygan that was born on Wall Street in New York City, and another banded in Menasha that was found later in Venezuela.

Peregrines have a high mortality rate, Septon warned, noting 50% to 70% of the birds will die within a year.

The peregrine has made a remarkable comeback since it was determined to be extinct east of the Mississippi River in 1964.

The birds historically nested on the cliffs over the Mississippi River, but their population plummeted as DDT — once commonly used as a pesticide on crops — built up in their bodies and caused the eggs they laid to have thinner shells that couldn’t support the weight of the parent during incubation.

Septon has been a guiding force in the falcon recovery efforts, which began in 1987.