Patty Loew:
Our next report focuses on a wildlife success story. The federal government de-listed peregrine  falcons from the endangered species list in 1999. Here in Wisconsin, the birds are still considered endangered. But just this fall, the DNR is starting discussions to take them off the list. As "In Wisconsin" reporter Liz Koerner discovered, that's in no small part due to one man's efforts across the state and in Pleasant Prairie.

 

Liz Koerner:
You've heard the expression “it's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it.” Well, the somebody is Greg Septon.

Greg Septon:
Peregrine feather from the left shoulder.

Liz Koerner:
This dirty job, cleaning out a nest box, is one of the many things he does to bring peregrine falcons back to Wisconsin.

Greg Septon:
By keeping that clean you keep bacteria down, keep a crust from forming on top, from extra humidity and it improves the hatch rate tremendously.

Liz Koerner:
By the mid 1960s, peregrines had been killed off in Wisconsin by the insecticide DDT. They were one of the first species placed on the federal endangered species list.

Greg Septon:
This year we’ll have between 25 and 30 nesting pairs. Last year and the year before, we had 27 pairs nesting both those years. And both in 2007 and 2008, we had a known total of 81 young produced by the same number of pairs.

Liz Koerner:
The amazing comeback here is due in no small part to Septon's efforts in eastern Wisconsin. In the late 1980s, along with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the DNR, he began releasing peregrines that were raised in captivity. What made them stay was a string of nest boxes mounted on tall buildings along the Lake Michigan shore.

Greg Septon:
We have a peregrine. She'll come in if I get out of here.

Greg Septon:
We started a concerted effort to get nest boxes put up along the man-made structures along the western shore of Lake Michigan, which is a major migration route and peregrines love following shorelines. It was like, duh, the ingredients are here, let's pursue it. And today they’re all occupied.

Liz Koerner:
The nest boxes were placed on tall buildings like banks and grain elevators, and the chimneys of power plants like this one at We Energy’s facility south of Kenosha. Septon says the owners of these buildings play an important role in peregrine recovery efforts.

Greg Septon:
They give us access to band the birds and climb up on the buildings, without the corporate buy-in it would not have happened.

Liz Koerner:
We Energies has taken it a step further by placing web cameras in the nest boxes at all the plants.

Mike Grisar:
We have web cams situated on each of the nesting boxes that we have installed, six. I think the biggest benefit we gain from that helps Greg out in being able to identify the individual adults that are using the nest sites and pairing up as a nesting pair.

Liz Koerner:
Since the beginning of the project, 60% of the chicks born in Wisconsin have hatched at the Lake Michigan site. But because the birds recovery is so successful, the search for territory and a suitable mate now sends them further afield.

Greg Septon:
There’s enough birds being produced each year that the young need to disperse and look for places to go, and consequently, they are doing that.

Liz Koerner:
Septon has gotten nest boxes put up at a number of other sites in view of water, including one at Alliant Energy’s Columbia generating station along the Wisconsin River near Pardeeville.

Greg Septon:
Okay, we’ve got three babies.

Liz Koerner:
He inspects the sites every spring, to find out which birds have moved in, and to document their success rate. On this visit, he found an astonishing eight eggs had been laid. He later learned only three chicks survived. Even if they survive the competition in the nest, they are not home free.

Greg Septon:
50 to 70% of the birds are gone the first year. And it's sad, it’s tough to see, but it's nature's way of ensuring the best genes are passed on and the birds who survive are tough and will continue.

Liz Koerner:
Enough birds have survived to send them to another spot near water, the MG&E plant in Madison. Manager Steve Schultz put up this nest box designed by Septon 10 years ago.

Steve Schultz:
Greg told us we were not really on the beaten path for peregrines, so it might take a little while. But we never thought it would take almost 10 years to get a nesting pair of peregrines.

Liz Koerner:
As he does at all the sites, Septon risks the wrath of the parents by temporarily stealing the chicks from their nest. He takes them indoors to band them and collect information that helps scientists manage recovery efforts. His volunteer assistant is Schultz's son Cole, who helped build the nest box.

Greg Septon:
When we band the birds, we can determine whether they survive, how long they live and reproduction, and how far they disperse. 3/4 of males nest less than 100 miles from where they were born. The females, less than 200 miles from where they were born.  The other quarter are the far ranging dispersers. Some of those birds can go great distances, we had one male that nested at the Edgewater plant in Sheboygan, his name was Sterling, he was produced at 38 Wall St., on Manhattan island.

Liz Koerner:
Septon’s a sure hand at banding these frightened chicks. Over the years, he's clamped ID bands on more than 500 peregrines. A clear indication of his passion for the special bird.

Greg Septon:
Take your time, take all the photos you want. The only time you'll get a family portrait of these guys.

Greg Septon:
I have always loved peregrines since I was a kid, and I spent over a quarter of a century working at the Milwaukee Public Museum, that's where I initiated the project and formed a non-profit to raise additional money. I have always loved peregrines.

Liz Koerner:
Septon now works as a private consultant traveling the state to help the bird he loves.

Greg Septon:
As long as I'm physically able and capable, I'm going to continue doing it. I love what I'm doing.

Patty Loew:
In September of 2007 "In Wisconsin" brought you a report about the peregrine falcon recovery work done at sites along the Mississippi River. To view that report, just go to our website at wpt.org. And click on "In Wisconsin."