Bird Club: The Recovery, Management and Future of Wisconsin’s Peregrine Falcons

Greg Septon, who founded the Wisconsin Peregrine Falcon recovery project in 1986 and for more than three decades has managed a world-class restoration effort of the endangered raptor, will offer a richly illustrated overview of Peregrine Falcon recovery efforts in Wisconsin between 1987 and 2019. Topics will include recovery methods and approaches utilized in the creation of an urban nesting population along the Lake Michigan shoreline, nest box designs, and urban nest site management issues. This talk covers dispersal of hacked and wild-produced falcons, nesting chronology, prey species, overwintering, environmental contaminants and the role of electric power generating plants in the recovery of the population. The reoccupation of historical cliff eyries along the Mississippi River, Devils Lake and the Door Peninsula will also be covered.