Thursday, May 5, 2016

Kenosha students learn about peregrine falcons

Peregrine falcon
Peregrine falcons have a high mortality rate, but those who do survive are tough.

Take Atlanta, for instance. Born in Green Bay in 1996, she later was found shot and had to undergo extensive rehabilitation before being released again in the wild. Atlanta not only survived but also thrived. After a brief stint in Indiana, she settled at our Oak Creek Power Plant where she spent more than a decade and produced 41 young.

“We wouldn’t know any of that without wildlife bands,” Greg Septon, our peregrine falcon manager, explained to a group of curious third graders at Jeffery Elementary School in Kenosha. Septon visited the school Wednesday to share with students the role We Energies plays in peregrine falcon recovery.

The students will be keeping a close eye on the nest box at our Pleasant Prairie Power Plant, not far from their school. That’s where falcon dad PBR, and mom, an unbanded female, are incubating three eggs, which are expected to hatch next week.

The students plan to visit the power plant to watch Septon band the chicks. They’ll also get to name the chicks, and those names will be recorded with their band numbers. The bands will make it possible to track the young to see if they have as prolific a life as Atlanta.

Third-grade class at Jeffery Elementary in Kenosha.

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