Group:

As some of you already know...but have probably forgotten...last summer my wife had an "encounter" with a peregrine falcon up on Beaver Island. Well, here's the rest of the story.

First though, for those of you not familiar with the story, I'll give you a brief synopsis of what happened.

Last summer, while giving a presentation to the town folk of St James, on Beaver Island, a couple brought in a cardboard box containing a bird they had found wandering around their pole barn. The bird was unable to fly and since they knew my wife worked with birds, they decided to bring it in to her. At the conclusion of the meeting, Nanc (my wife) and Beth (a visiting professor from Shreveport..and a very good friend) headed back to the Biological Station with what they thought at the time was a Merlin...a small falcon.

Upon arrival back at the Biological Station, Nanc opened the box... and much to their surprise the bird turned out to be a peregrine falcon. Her exact quote was...and please forgive the language...but this is what she actually said..."Holy shit!!...that's a Peregrine Falcon!!" These birds are Federally protected...with only a handful nesting in the State of Michigan (I'm not 100% certain....but I believe there may be a nesting pair in Grand Rapids). They removed the bird and attempted to release it (it's a federal crime to possess these animals), hoping that perhaps the bird had simply hit a window or something and was stunned, explaining why it did not fly when the couple originally captured the bird and placed it in the box.

As it turned out, the bird still could not fly and upon a closer examination, Nanc and Beth notice a terrible wound on its right wing, near what would be the wrist. They placed it back into the box and Nanc immediately called Joe Rogers, a wildlife rehabilitator located just outside Mt. Pleasant. Nanc explained to Joe what they had, and what seem to be the problem. She also told him that the bird was severely emaciated. Joe asked her to attempt to get some food into the bird, but NOT to do it so much that the bird would start to associated humans (namely; short, fuzzy headed blondes) with food. So they would place a food item (don't ask) into the box and then leave the bird alone. The bird ate quite a few "items" in this manner...which was a good sign.

The next day the bird was flown to Charlevoix and then driven to Joe's rehabilitation center, where it was examined by a veterinarian. As it turned out, the bird had been shot (while in flight) with a large caliber gun...probably a rifle. It also looked as if the bird would never fly again, and would have to remain a captive animal for the rest of its life.

As most of you probably know (but for those that don't), peregrines hunt other birds for food, taking them out during flight. They are the fasted animals on the planet and can obtains speeds greater than 200 mph when diving on their prey. Needless to say, this sort of precision flying requires fully functioning wings so they can make minute adjustments during the attack. This bird had such massive tissue damage (in addition to a nasty infection), that there was no way it would recover it's flying abilities to the extent needed for such a hunting style. How sad. A beautiful and relatively rare bird doomed to life in a cage because some jerk (and I'm being very nice here...my preferred language is far worse than what I'm actually writing) decided to show how tough he was by shooting him. Probably some ass that hates birds of prey because they think these birds kill all "their" game birds (I've actually heard this argument many times...and from many hunters. A very sad testimonial to the attitudes of some people).

Anyway, we went to visit the bird last Fall, to see how he was doing. Although he could fly a bit, Joe still told us that the prognoses was bleak. His abilities, while impressive and better than once hoped, were still no where near good enough for release.

Now...finally...the rest of the story:

To make a long story short (I know...it's way to late for that), Joe called Nanc about a week ago and told her that the peregrine had actually recovered and was going to be released on Saturday, April 7th at one o-clock. We showed up and first watched the bird flying in it's long practice flight cage, with Joe explaining what to look for to know that a bird can be released. It was pretty cool...watching this bird fly right past us, from one end of the cage to the other.

Next, we vacated the cage so Joe could catch the bird and bring him out for release. Nanc asked if she could get a picture beside the bird (as Joe held it) so she could send it to the Beaver Island Paper. He said "sure"...and then (much to Nanc's surprise) she was allowed to hold the bird and then toss him up into the air for release. WOW! Now that was special. She had no idea....nor did she even expect...that she would get to hold the bird again...let alone be the one to release him back into the wild.

A happy ending to a story that should never have needed to be told.

I have included four pictures I took of the release. The first shows Joe Rogers holding the falcon as he explains to everyone a little bit about the bird and what was going to happen. The second photo shows Nanc and Joe (with the bird...this was the photo Nanc wanted so she could send it to the Beaver Island paper) The third photo shows Joe handing her the bird...much to her surprise. And the last photo shows the bird flying away. Please note that the bird seems none to thankful of Nanc for helping to save his life. Ungrateful little vagrant!!

Later,

Jeff S.