In late May 2007, biologists from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources banded four Peregrine Flacon chicks at the BLP’s Sims power plant on Harbor Island.  It was the seventh year that a pair of rare Peregrine Falcons have successfully produced chicks in a nest box on the power plant’s chimney.

In order to band the chicks, DNR wildlife biologist Nik Kalejs and Ernie Kafcas climbed 240 feet up the power plant’s chimney with BLP employees to reach the wooden nest box.  Each chick, or “eyas”, was inspected and banded with special bird bands for future identification purposes.  There were three females and one male in the nest.

The Peregrine nest box was installed on the power plant chimney by the BLP in 1995, at the request of a local bird expert.  A pair of Peregrine Falcons arrived at the site in the spring of 2000.  In 2001, the pair became the first documented nesting Peregrine Falcons in the western half of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

Most years the Peregrine have produced three chicks, with the exception of 2004 and this year, when they produced four chicks.  Including the year’s brood, a total of 23 chicks have been fledged at the Sims power plant site.

“Twenty-three chicks in seven years from this site is exceptional,” Kalejs commented, after completing the banding project.  “This site was West Michigan’s first confirmed nesting site for the Peregrine falcon, and continues to set the pace for our restoration effort along Lake Michigan’s shoreline.”  

             Peregrine Falcons were listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1970, after their Midwest population was eliminated in the mid-1960s due to problems with the pesticide DDT.  In 1999, following extensive restoration efforts, the Peregrine Falcon was removed from the federally endangered species list, but it remains on the Michigan endangered species list.  The Grand Haven nest site is currently one of three confirmed Peregrine Falcon nests in the western half of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.  The other sites are at the B.C. Cobb power plant in Muskegon and the J.H. Campbell power plant in Port Sheldon.

             Power plants have played a large role in the recovery of Peregrine Falcon populations in the Midwest because the tall chimneys provide ideal nesting locations to these birds of prey.  Power plants first became involved with assisting the restoration of Peregrine falcons to the Midwest in 1989, when a nesting box was placed on the stack of an Xcel Energy power plant in Bayport, Minnesota.  Early success with this program prompted a number of additional power plants to get involved with the Peregrine falcon restoration effort.

Grand Haven area birdwatchers can watch the Peregrine Falcons from Linear Park on Harbor Island in Grand Haven.  The eyases will begin to learn to fly, or “fledge”, in mid-June.  They are expected to remain in the area until fall, when they will migrate south.  Adult Peregrines will mate for life, and generally use the same nesting site each year.

Images from previous years can be viewed at the following links:

Pictures from the 2006 banding can be seen by clicking HERE.

Pictures from the 2004 banding can be seen by clicking HERE.

Web camera pictures from 2003 can be viewed by clicking HERE, and pictures taken during the 2003 banding can be seen HERE.

For general information about the Peregrine Falcons, and for pictures of the banding of three Peregrine Falcon chicks in 2002, click HERE.

The Grand Haven Board of Light and Power produces and distributes electricity for approximately 13,400 customers in Grand Haven and the surrounding area.  Created in 1896 by Grand Haven residents, the BLP is a not-for-profit, community-owned and locally-controlled electric utility.