Manitoba Peregrines > UND, Grand Forks, North Dakota
UND Tower - 2015 / Marv & Terminator
Alison:
Part II
GF joins effort
Grand Forks was a latecomer to this trend, partly because falcons here seemed such an unlikely prospect. The success of nesting falcons in Winnipeg stirred interest. So did news of falcons nesting in Fargo.
In 2005, an adult male peregrine showed up in Grand Forks. He hung around a water tower in the railroad yard near the intersection of Washington Street and DeMers Avenue, about as close as you can get to the heart of Grand Forks.
The water tower had a conical top, resembling a shortened dunce cap. A big smile and a winking eye were painted on the tower. It became a local landmark, known as "Smiley."
That fall, Tim Driscoll, who since has earned a reputation as a regional raptor expert, placed a nest box on the water tower. It wasn't occupied until 2007. An adult male reared in Fargo tried to attract a mate that summer. An unbanded female hung around, but no nesting occurred.
The male, named Bear, was luckier the next year, 2008. He attracted an adult female raised in Brandon, Man. Her name was Terminator.
The pair fledged one young bird, named Ozzie. Ozzie flew into a power line near the water tower and died.
Bear didn't show up in 2009, but Terminator attracted another male from Fargo. His name was Roosevelt. Three young were fledged that year, the last at that nest site.
Young peregrines have been fledged in Grand Forks every year since.
Smiley the water tower was demolished in the fall of 2009, and Driscoll moved the nest box to the UND tower.
Roosevelt and Terminator showed up there in 2011. Their ready acceptance of the new location was a bit of a surprise—a "neat trick," a raptor expert from the Twin Cities declared.
The pair had been seen on the tower the previous year though, and so it seemed worth the effort to move the box.
For falcons and falcon fanciers, it was the right thing to do.
Back again
This will be Terminator's eighth year in Grand Forks. Her current mate, Marv, is her fourth.
All in an unlikely place.
Terminator is old for a peregrine.
Her behavior is expected, though. Peregrines are more loyal to place than to partner, so it is not surprising she has accepted four different males in her parenting career.
Nor is her continued preference for an urban location a surprise. Peregrines habitually return to sites similar to those that produced them.
Once scientists established urban populations, they began to grow—and probably will continue to grow.
Likely there are other potential nesting sites in the Red River Valley. All peregrines really need is a site with a view and plenty of food. For peregrines, food is almost exclusively birds, ranging in size from starlings to ducks. Pigeons seem to be a staple; Driscoll has collected peregrine kills, and pigeon remains make up about a fourth of the sample size.
Grand Forks isn't short of pigeons—at least not yet.
Driscoll wonders if the city could support a second pair of peregrines, and he's considered putting up another nest box—probably in East Grand Forks, his home town.
In Minnesota, Crookston might also support a pair of peregrines. Thief River Falls is another possibility.
Devils Lake is still another potential peregrine town. Minot, as well. Perhaps a pair could be induced to nest on the state Capitol tower, the tallest building in the state.
The falcon rescue effort led to reclassifying the peregrine. It had been considered endangered. In 1999, it was removed from the endangered species list.
The successful recovery of the peregrine was a conservation triumph, and the bird has become a symbol of conservation efforts worldwide.
The recovery effort brought peregrines into our lives right here in River City.
Alison:
There is a new article about the Grand Forks peregrines in the Grand Forks Herald today.
Part I
Always in Season: Peregrines in Grand Forks belong to an amazing story of recovery
By Mike Jacobs
Smiley perched on top of the Xcel Energy Building in Grand Forks, 2009.
Photo by Dave Lambeth.
Peregrine falcons are amazing birds, and perhaps the most amazing thing about them is they nest right here in River City, Grand Forks, N.D., U.S.A.
In Fargo, U.S.A., too.
Also in Winnipeg in Canada.
These places had not been considered prime peregrine habitat.
In fact, there are only a few nesting records for North Dakota, and all of them are from the western part of the state.
In Minnesota, peregrines historically nested along the Mississippi River bluffs and the cliffs of Lake Superior.
In Manitoba, they were found along the north end of Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay.
All of these places are quite far from the Red River Valley.
Peregrines didn't nest in the valley for a very good reason. They are cliff dwellers, and except for an occasional mud bank along the Red River itself, the valley doesn't have any naturally occurring cliffs.
Lately, it has acquired some artificial cliffs, of sorts, on high-rise buildings and other manmade structures.
In Winnipeg, peregrines nest on the Radisson Hotel tower downtown, among other places, and in Fargo, they nest on an office building.
Their Grand Forks nest sites have been on water towers.
Fantastic story
How the peregrines got here is a fantastic story, which has a beginning as improbable as its current chapter.
It begins with an insecticide.
In 1939, a Swiss chemist discovered that DDT could kill insects. So effective was the chemical that the chemist won the Nobel Prize in 1948. Just 14 years later, Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring." DDT, Carson surmised, killed wild birds, including falcons and eagles.
She was right.
The chemical accumulated in the environment. Apex predators were especially vulnerable because they took in large amounts of the chemical in the prey they ate.
Chemicals in DDT caused thinning of egg shells. The eggs didn't hatch. By 1970, peregrine falcons had disappeared from the eastern United States. A few pairs survived in the West.
The Arctic population remained fairly stable, but even there, birds were contaminated by food they picked up on their winter ranges.
DDT was banned in the United States in 1972.
The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, and the peregrine was added to the list of species at risk of extinction.
Scientists and falcon fanciers launched an effort to save the peregrines.
This involved capturing wild birds, stealing and fostering falcon eggs, milking males for semen, artificially inseminating females, raising captive birds and a process adopted from falconry called "hacking." Essentially, peregrine chicks were reared in boxes, then guided to life as wild birds.
Eventually, peregrines were returned to nests in the wild.
They also were encouraged to nest in cities.
Urban falcons were not entirely unknown. Wintering falcons sometimes showed up in East Coast cities, including Boston, New York and Philadelphia. During World War II, a pair nested in Montreal.
But urban nests were certainly exceptions.
Falcon enthusiasts considered the idea worth trying though, and by 1980, nest boxes were in place in cities along the East Coast. Minneapolis wasn't far behind.
Kinderchick:
She is, indeed, a beauty! :D
Alison:
From the article posted above from the Grand Forks Herald, this is the great photograph of Terminator taken by Tim Driscoll.
She is a beauty:
The Peregrine Chick:
--- Quote from: Jazzerkins on April 01, 2015, 08:26 ---So North Dakota has one of our Manitoba birds and we have one of theirs. Cool.
--- End quote ---
We also have a Minneapolis bird (Princess) and they have a Manitoba bird (Juliet). Or at least they did last year but I haven't heard if she has returned this year.
And of course, Annie from West Winnipeg is in Fargo and we have Jolicoeur who is the daughter of Annie's predecessor Dakota Ace.
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