FalconCam

Minnesota Power proudly serves 144,000 electric customers
in Northeastern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin.

FalconCam

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Banding

FalconCam

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FalconCam

Minnesota Power personnel have worked with the Raptor Research Project (RRP) of Decorah, Iowa since 1991 to band peregrine falcon chicks high atop our 350-foot stack at Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset, Minnesota.

The bands signify that the bird is from the Midwest and also allows them to be identified and entered into a University of Minnesota research database. The banding will make it possible to track the birds’ activities over their lifetimes, furthering our knowledge of this once-endangered species.

Now in its 21st year, the RRP has banded its 1,000th peregrine as a direct result of working with electric utility personnel to place nesting boxes on stacks at several Minnesota utilities, including Boswell – one of the first utilities to join the program. Minnesota Power also has a nesting box at the Hibbard plant in Duluth – where three additional falcon chicks were banded by RRP in early June of 2009.

Boswell Energy Center Brian Borgman
with a Peregrine falcon chick that's just received two leg bands to identify it for researchers. Borgman assisted two raptor experts with the banding process.

In the last few years, about 50 percent of all Peregrine chicks born in the upper Midwest were hatched at secluded homes atop stacks at power plants. The electric industry has played a key role in Peregrine falcon recovery efforts here in Minnesota and the upper Midwest.

Peregrines, the fastest raptor on earth, migrate in winter vacation spots from Little Rock, Ark., to the tip of Argentina. Sometimes, Peregrines will winter at a power plant if there is enough open water and an adequate nearby food supply, such as pigeons. Peregrines seek private, high, out-of-the-way homes for nesting, mating and pursuing their prey.

The electric industry has played a key role in Peregrine falcon recovery efforts here in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. And, for the first time since 1960, Peregrines are now returning to breed on high cliffs throughout Minnesota, a more natural habitat.

For more information on the Raptor Resource Project, visit: http://www.raptorresource.org