Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project

Peregrine falcons almost went extinct, but they didn't. DDT bioaccumlated in their bloodstream, reducing calcium and weakening egg shells. Mama peregrines would crush their eggs and so babies couldn't be born. (For more details, read "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. But don't actually ... it's pretty dry). I've told the story to countless groups of students during our weekly raptor presentation. The story is made more powerful because there's a live peregrine falcon in front of the students. Additionally, the North Shore played a huge role in the recovery of the peregrine falcons and continues to do so today.

Chup, Wolf Ridge's resident peregrine falcon (first four photos by Sara Sloan)

The North Shore is ideal habitat for nesting peregrine falcons because they like to nest on cliff faces, something we have an abundance of along Lake Superior. The Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project is a research project that monitors peregrine falcon populations along the North Shore. Initially, they were involved with releasing captive peregrines into the wild to help re-establish the population. Now, the population is stable and so the main objective is to monitor the nesting pairs along the shore and band the chicks.

A couple weeks back, Joe (who is a volunteer for the project) took us out to check a common nesting site at Pallisade Head, part of Tettegouche State Park. He had seen a female peregrine on a nest earlier that week, so we were all quite excited as we walked out along the cliff face. However, when a few of the naturalists got a good look at the bird sitting at the nest site, it was clear that there was some sort of mistake because sitting on the nest was not a peregrine falcon, but rather a Canada goose.

Goose butt.

Monitoring the cliff faces.

Having only gotten a quick glimpse, Joe just assumed the gray bird butt he'd seen belonged to the raptors in question. Luckily, the peregrine falcons found a different place to nest a little further along the cliff and we all got a good look at the female, sitting on her nest. (The Canada goose raises a number of questions. Why is a goose nesting on such a precarious cliff? I suspect it has something to do with the lack of unfrozen lakes, which I wrote about in the previous blog entry. More importantly, what will happen when the goose's eggs hatch? There will be some baby geese taking a very dangerous dive to get into the water......)

Looking down on a female peregrine on a nest.

Given my interest in avian research, I decided I wanted to get involved if I could. Joe sent me out to a couple sites to see if I could establish whether or not nesting pairs were present. Sara and I spent an afternoon investigating Crystal Cove and Kennedy Creek (two other cliff faces on Lake Superior) but to no avail. The next week, Peter and I searched the cliffs in his back yard and had a little bit more luck.

Birch Bay cliffs.

First, we watched the cliff from a distance. Not five minutes after getting our binoculars out, we saw a peregrine falcon fly to the cliff face. Based on where it landed, we were able to guess where the nest might be at, so our next step was to get a closer look. As we hiked along the cliff face, we noticed a ton of signs of peregrine falcon activity.

Left-over feathers from a Northern flicker, a common peregrine snack.

A peregrine falcon pellet and a Northern flicker feather.

After searching the area for awhile, the peregrines started to circle over us, crying out their alarm call ("get away from our nest!") and we were able to ID the spot where we think the nest is.

We think the nest is behind the aspen tree on the cliff here.

Now that we've identified a potential nest site, I'm somehow supposed to see if these peregrines are banded and then figure out what the band numbers are. I've spent a good four+ hours at the site stalking these guys, trying to get a close enough look, but I still can't even identify if they're banded or not, much less what number bands they're wearing... 

Wandering Waterfowl

Last week, Erin, being the local animal expert, got a phone call about a "duck" that was stuck in a puddle by the fire-house. She went to check it out and found a pied-billed grebe, unable to walk out of the puddle onto the land and unable to take off into flight. Erin rescued it, let it swim around in her bath-tub for a couple hours (to assess whether it was ready to be released or if it required further care) and then decided it was fine to be released back into the waters of Lake Superior.

Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) (Photo from: www.allaboutbirds.org)

This is not an uncommon situation this spring. The wildlife rehabilitation center in Duluth has seen a huge increase in the number of grebes admitted and it all has to do with our terrible weather. It has been unusually cold and snowy this "spring", even for the North Shore. Thus, when the migratory waterfowl have returned north, they have found their typical inland lake and stream habitats completely frozen over. In the case of this grebe (and apparently many others) it mistook a puddle for a body of water in its search for suitable habitat.

Raven Lake: Still Frozen

Wolf Lake: Still Frozen

Grebes are a family of waterfowl, related to ducks only in that they both spend time on the water. Pied-billed grebes are built with their legs so far back on their bodies that if they attempt to walk on land, they fall over, top-heavy. A grebe in a puddle is an unfortunate situation because it can't walk onto the land and doesn't have enough water to properly take off, so it is stuck. Grebes are incredibly well adapted to life on the water: in fact, their toes are all individually webbed (as opposed to ducks, which have toes webbed together) providing extra surface area and increasing the efficiency of the paddling. Furthermore, they are great divers, earning the colloquial nickname "Hell-diver" because of the amount of time spent underwater. When underwater, the grebe can compress its feathers to force the air out, causing it to become denser and sink further and faster. Pied-billed grebes even build their nests on floating vegetation in the water!

A pied-billed grebe nest (Photo courtesy of: the internet somewhere)

With no inland lakes to land on, the migratory waterfowl has resorted to hanging out on Lake Superior. Our executive director noted 17 different waterfowl species on the lake during a recent visit. At Palisade Head on Monday, I was able to see at least 15 distinct groups of waterfowl on the lake, some so far away I had no way of identifying species, even with my binoculars. In the past week, much of the Baptism River and Sawmill Creek have become unfrozen, so it is not uncommon to see the summer residents hanging out on these rushing water sources as well.

A trio of hooded mergansers on the Baptism River (5/1)

A pair of ring-necked ducks on the Baptism River (5/1)

Today, atop Marshall Mountain, I saw multiple loons flying by, calling as they searched for open water. Unfortunately, they'll have to continue to be patient, at least for another week or two, before their ideal habitat has melted and is accessible to begin nesting once more.

April Bird Count

April started out slow, mostly due to the fact that we were still getting regular blizzards three weeks in. However, thanks in large part to a Tour de Raptor road-trip to the Twin Cities, and the amazing 60-degree weather we finally got last weekend, the spring birds are starting to add up quickly. Here are my April sightings.

4/13/13
42. American Robin: Wolf Ridge, outside of the West Dorm side entrance

"I though I was supposed to be a sign of spring!"

4/14/13

43. Canada Goose: Highway 61, south of Temperance River State Park, flying over Lake Superior

4/19/13

44. Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored): Wolf Ridge, outside of the West Dorm

45. Snow Bunting: Finland, MN, flying over-head highway 6

46. House Finch: Coon Rapids, MN, Manning household backyard

4/20/13

47. Brown-headed Cowbird: St. Paul, MN, outside the Raptor Center

48. Great Horned Owl: Minnesota Zoo, above the tiger enclosure (This was a pretty crazy thing to see. A fledgling great horned owl was perched on a branch, just above what appeared to be a nest, in a tree in the tiger enclosure. No sign of a mother or father anywhere. The fledgling was wobbling around, clearly unstable on its feet. We watched it for awhile, feeling truly nervous. Then it tried flying. It flew up to the next branch, grabbed on with its feet, fell almost all the way upside down, flapping crazily, before righting itself back up. We couldn't watch anymore after that. We're going to pretend that the owl is fine and that the tigers did not end up with a tasty treat.)

49. Trumpeter Swan: Minnesota Zoo, flying over-head and then swimming in the large pond

50. Great Blue Heron: Minnesota Zoo, parking lot

A great blue heron that I spotted earlier today, flying away from me across the Baptism River.

51. Red-tailed Hawk: Minneapolis, MN, perched over the interstate

4/21/13

52. Sandhill Crane: North of the Twin Cities, standing alone in a wetland/field

4/24/13

53. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: Wolf Ridge, behind the West Dorm

4/26/13

54. Rusty Blackbird (L): Gooseberry Falls State Park, tree outside the visitor center (I was unsure about this one at first, but it was way too small to be a grackle. Rusty blackbirds are listed as "vulnerable" because their population has dropped 85% since 1966!)

4/27/13

To enjoy the beautiful weather, I went for a hike with a large group of naturalists (also in honor of Tom's birthday). The trail we wanted to hike still had snow up to our waists, though, so most of us opted to walk along county road 7 instead. A good choice, as it was our first chance to see so many of the birds that were finally coming north. We dawdled as we identified spring migrant after spring migrant and listened to all of their beautiful songs.

55. Merlin: Finland, MN, top of a tree across from Zion Lutheran Church

56. Osprey: Finland, MN, flying overhead the Finland Recreation Center

57. Song Sparrow: County Road 7 between Finland and Crosby-Manitou State Park

58. White-throated Sparrow: County Road 7 between Finland and Crosby-Manitou State Park (And they've been singing outside of my window every morning this week, along with a very persistent Eastern phoebe..."PHOEBEEE!")

59. Fox Sparrow (Sooty): County Road 7 between Finland and Crosby-Manitou State Park

60. American Woodcock: County Road 7 between Finland and Crosby-Manitou State Park (I want to go back sometime soon at night and listen/watch for the woodcocks' annual "peenting" display, an interesting and kind of humorous attempt to attract a mate.)

61. Hermit Thrush: County Road 7 between Finland and Crosby-Manitou State Park

4/28/13

62. Northern Flicker: Highway 1, en route to Wolf Ridge from Finland

4/29/13

63. Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Tettegouch State Park, Palisade Head

I wasn't familiar with the song of the ruby-crowned kinglet and was surprised by how complex it was. I've started recording the "sounds of spring" (more on this later, I'm sure) and this is one example that I'm proud of.

64. Horned Grebe (L): Highway 61, Crystal Cove point, on Lake Superior (A truly funny looking bird - look them up!)

65. Common Merganser: Highway 61, Crystal Cove point, on Lake Superior

66. Common Loon: Highway 61, Kennedy Creek outflow, on Lake Superior

67. American Tree Sparrow: Tofte, MN, Oberg Mountain Overlook #3

4/30/13

68. Purple Finch: Wolf Ridge, Education Building bird feeders

MJ and I banded 12 purple finches yesterday, in addition to some black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, slate-colored juncos, and common redpolls.