MILWAUKEE — A Peregrine falcon program hosted by We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service saw its first falcon eggs of the nesting season in Oak Creek and in Milwaukee last weekend.
We Energies said in a statement Monday that the first eggs of the 2021 nesting season were laid at the Oak Creek and Valley power plants.
We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service are partnering in a statewide effort to restore the peregrine falcon population in Wisconsin. The state Department of Natural Resources added peregrine falcons to Wisconsin’s endangered species list in the 1970s.
The falcons are attracted to tall structures along Lake Michigan or major rivers. That makes We Energies and WPS facilities ideal nesting sites.
The parents, Essity and Michael, were the first to welcome a new addition to their nest box in Oak Creek. Essity laid her first egg Saturday, the first day of spring, and her second early Sunday morning, according to We Energies.
At the Valley Power Plant in Milwaukee, Hercules and his mate, an unbanded female falcon, welcomed their first egg on Sunday.
We Energies' peregrine falcon manager believes this is the same unbanded falcon who has been nesting at Valley since 2014.
Both sets of parents will take turns incubating their eggs in the coming weeks, and if all goes well, the first chicks should arrive in a little over a month, We Energies says.
The utility says 410 peregrine falcons have hatched at their facilities since the program began.
You can watch their live nest box camera here, and have more information here.
