Peregrine falcon flies away at Open Door Bird Sanctuary, May 15, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A birder was treated to a rare sighting of a Wisconsin-born peregrine falcon chick in the wild.
Trapper the peregrine falcon was one of nine chicks born this year during a successful nesting season for We Energies and WPS.
He was born at the We Energies Valley Power Plant nest box earlier this year and left the nest in June. After a peregrine falcon leaves the nest, sightings in the wild are rare.
Trapper was spotted by birder Braden Ribbens in early September over Sheboygan Falls. Trapper was able to be identified thanks to the band that was placed on the chicks’ legs before they left the nest.
All of this year’s chicks were named after Wisconsin Olympic medalists.
Trapper was named after Olympic bronze medalist trap shooter and Wisconsin native Madelynn Bernau.
A total of 453 peregrine falcons have been born at We Energies and WPS power plants since the program began in 1992. That means 20% of all peregrine falcons born in Wisconsin during that time hatched at We Energies or WPS facilities, helping the endangered species escape possible extinction.
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