Lightning Strikes!

 

The weather this weekend has been wonderful so I have sent most of it outside. Despite the fact that up until mid week we had lots of snow on the ground and ice on the water I still got some great pics. This afternoon I noticed that Lock and Dam number one was open, It was closed when I checked last weekend, so I decided to check and see if there were any peregrine falcons at the nest box. I was excited to find a female sitting on the nest box. Unfortunately she was faced the wrong way so I had to hike up the hill to get a shot that included her bands so that I could identify her. About 80% of the peregrine population in this area have been banded by the Midwest Peregrine Foundation and they keep a database so that if you get the band number you can look them up. This bird is named lightning and she was hatched near the St Croix River in 2007. After a while her partner came over and brought her food. I was able to get a good view of his legs and I saw that he was not banded. This will be the four year that I have watched this nest box. Last year the nest did not have any falcons so I am hopeful that this year lightning will strike and she and her unbanded mate will have a good brood of chicks.