Falcons on the rise, thanks to efforts in Cedar Rapids

The peregrine falcon nest in downtown Cedar Rapids - the first to produce young birds in Iowa's successful reintroduction effort - led the way again this year with four fledglings.

'That nest and the volunteer stewards who look after the birds there have been a key part of the reintroduction program,' said Pat Schlarbaum, a wildlife technician with the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Diversity Program.

Of 207 young falcons reared in Iowa since 1993, the nest on the U.S. Bank building at 222 Second Ave. SE has produced 57 of them, Schlarbaum said. That nest's productivity, he said, contributed to last year's decision by the Iowa Natural Resources Commission to upgrade the peregrine falcon's status from endangered to a species of special concern. The federal government upgraded the falcon's status in 1998, but Iowa waited for the falcons to maintain10 nesting territories for five years in a row - a level equivalent to their reproduction before the widespread use of insecticides such as DDT nearly eliminated the birds from the continental United States.

'It is an amazing success story - one that has by far exceeded our expectations,' said Jodeane Cancilla, director of the Macbride Raptor Project, who banded the Cedar Rapids birds on June 3.

One of those four birds is now recovering from crash injuries at the raptor clinic on the Kirkwood Community College campus in Cedar Rapids.

Schlarbaum said that clinic - which has treated on average about one young falcon per year since the reintroduction program began - also has contributed greatly to the program's success.

About 70 percent of young falcons don't survive their first year, but the mortality rate is lower in Cedar Rapids because of the proximity of the clinic and the skilled care of its personnel, Schlarbaum said.

Cancilla said the young falcon suffered internal injuries in a collision - likely with a downtown building.

Its prognosis is good, she said.

This year 16 Iowa territories with 10 successful nests produced 21 young.

Though one of the young Cedar Rapids falcons is temporarily out of circulation, its three siblings 'are out buzzing the town,' said U.S. Bank employee Theresa Chapel, who has been observing falcons there since the first successful hatch in 1993.

Sizewise, they are hard to distinguish from their parents, but the general coloration of their feathers, brown with speckled breasts, differs from the adults' gray plumage, she said.

The mother, with band number S5, was fledged in Des Moines in 1998 and has lived in Cedar Rapids for 12 years. Her mate, 78E, was fledged in Kokomo, Ind., in 2003 and is in his sixth year in Cedar Rapids.

One young falcon fledged at Dead Cow Bluff, a new cliff site near Lansing, and was banded by Bob Anderson, Dave Kester and Amy Reis of the Raptor Resource Project, a non-profit group credited with returning falcons to their historic nesting range on the bluffs of the Upper Mississippi River.

Anderson also reported that two falcons fledged this year at another Lansing cliff site and that three fledged at the Agri-Bunge Elevator in McGregor.

Other successful nests were at Des Moines, Clinton, Davenport, Burlington and Ottumwa.