Part III
Grand Forks Peregrine Timeline
Here is a look at the history of peregrines in Grand Forks, based on information from local raptor expert Tim Driscoll:
• 2005: An adult male spent the summer on the Smiley water tower. A box was placed on the east walkway of the tower in September.
• 2007: Bear, a male raised in Fargo, attempted to attract a mate. A female spent time at the tower, but no mating occurred.
• 2008: Bear and Terminator nested on the tower. Their only fledgling, Ozzie, was electrocuted on July 18.
• 2009: Bear didn't return, but another Fargo-raised male, Roosevelt, mated with Terminator. They fledged three young: Smiley, a male, and females named Alice and Ethel. Ethel was found dead on July 26. Alice was seen attempting to breed in Brandon, Man., in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, Smiley mated with a female named Princess. They raised two females on the Radisson Hotel in downtown Winnipeg. Smiley returned to the hotel earlier this year. In Grand Forks, the water tower called "Smiley" was demolished in the fall of 2009. The nest box was moved to UND's water tower about a mile farther west and on the north side of the BNSF tracks.
• 2010: Terminator and Roosevelt showed up at the new location where they raised three young—a male named Clifford and females named Lux and Lex. Their fates are not known.
• 2011: Terminator and Roosevelt came back for a third year together and fledged three young—a male named Ansel and females named Eve and Beverley. Eve was hurt in a fight over territory in St. Paul, received treatment at The Raptor Center there, and was released in Alexandria, Minn., in 2013. In 2014, she raised four young in Minneapolis.
• 2012: Terminator and Roosevelt were back and raised three young—males named Walsh and Alexander, and a female named Frances. Frances was found dead on Aug. 20. Walsh was seen in Sioux Falls, S.D., on April 20, 2014.
• 2013: Terminator showed up, but Roosevelt did not return. Instead, Terminator mated with an unbanded male, and they fledged three young—males named George and Anson and a female named Stella. Stella was found on the UND campus unable to fly. Later, George was found flightless near the city lagoon northwest of town. Both were treated at The Raptor Center, recovered and were released into the wild.
• 2014: Terminator returned—but she had to wait until late April for a mate, Marv, her fourth. He was a youngster, fledged in Fargo in 2013. Mating so young is unusual. Despite his youth and their late start, Terminator and Marv raised two young, females named Maya and Myra.
• 2015: Marv returned on March 9, Terminator on March 29. All indications are that they intend to raise another family in Grand Forks.
In total, peregrines have nested seven years in Grand Forks, laid 24 eggs and fledged 18 young. Three are known to be dead—Ozzie, Ethel and Frances. That means 15 peregrines fledged in Grand Forks may be living in the wild. Eight are females and seven are males. At least two of them have been seen attempting to attract mates, one in Brandon, Man., and one in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Two of the Grand Forks fledglings are known to be parents. Eve raised four young in Minneapolis, and Smiley raised two young in Winnipeg, both in 2014.
Of interest: Bear and Roosevelt, successive mates of Terminator, were brothers but not nest mates. They were sons of the same parents, named Dakota Ace and Frieda, but they were born in different years.
Grand Forks peregrines are migratory, usually arriving in March or early April and leaving in mid-September. It's not known exactly where they spend the winter. Peregrines from Fargo have been seen on the Gulf Coast of Texas.