Wildlife biologists from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources banded three young Peregrine Falcons at the Grand Haven Board of Light & Power’s Sims Generating Station mid-morning Friday, May 26, 2006.  The falcon chicks are the sixth brood raised by a pair of rare wild Peregrine Falcons that began nesting on the power plant chimney in 2001.

     MDNR Wildlife Biologists Nik Kalejs and Ernie Kafcas climbed the power plant’s chimney with Grand Haven Board of Light & Power employees John Harloff and Staci LeFurge to reach the wooden nest box attached to the chimney 240 feet above the ground.  Each chick, or “eyas”, was banded with special bird bands for future identification purposes.  There were two females and one male in the nest.

     This was the sixth consecutive year that DNR personnel, accompanied by Grand Haven BLP employees, climbed up to the special wooden box that the Peregrine Falcons use as their nest site or "eyrie".  The box was installed on the 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.  They were identified by their leg bands as having come from power plant nest sites in Wisconsin.  In 2001, the pair became the first documented nesting Peregrine Falcons in the western half of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

     From 2001 through 2003, and again in 2005, the Falcons produced three chicks each year at the Grand Haven BLP nest site.  In 2004, they produced four chicks.  Including this year’s brood, a total of 19 chicks have been born at this site.

     MDNR Biologist Kalejs was pleased with the size and apparent health of the chicks.  “This site was West Michigan’s first confirmed nesting site for the Peregrine falcon, and continues to be an exceptionally productive site,” he said, after completing the banding project.

     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.

     Unlike the previous few years, webcam images from the nest box are not available in 2006 due to technical difficulties.  The BLP hopes to install higher quality cameras at the nest site prior to next spring, and offer pictures from the cameras on the web site.

     Images from this year’s banding, and 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 13,300 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.