A DAY OF REST

A beautiful late spring day with the normal sounds of the day outside. Rains yesterday refreshed the lawn. Chirping finches are in a vocalization match with the grackles and starlings over who has rights to the birdfeeders. Ahhh. Life is good.

Tomorrow morning, a new sound can be heard over downtown Rapid City, SD: 

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/peregrine_falcon/sounds

That KAK-KAK-KAK is music to the ears of us humans who love this bird, and we are ready to rock and roll. The webcam is up and can be viewed at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rapid-city-peregrines . "Like" our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/#!/rcperegrines . And of course, this blog will help you learn about THE fastest animal on earth and our conservation efforts.

Our project kicks off on a special weekend in Rapid City, SD. This weekend, the city celebrates the renewal that has taken place after the devastating flood of June 9, 1972. This renewal has been 40 years in the making.

The peregrine's flood, so to speak, was the widely applied pesticide DDT, as well as illegal shooting and habitat loss. Like other wildlife, the Peregrine Falcon population was reduced to critically low levels until legislation stepped in. This renewal, as in Rapid City's flood renewal, has been 40-plus years in the making. Through a program made possible by South Dakota's State Wildlife Grants and administered through the Department of South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, we are starting our second of a three year project to reintroduce the peregrine to the state. Our goal is to remove the Peregrine from South Dakota's list as State Endangered. More about what we'll need year over year in future blogs.

Our summer "home" will be atop the corporate offices of Black Hills Power in downtown Rapid City.

We are excited to have them as a partner in our project, and appreciate all they do to help preserve habitat, nesting sites, and the ongoing conservation of the peregrine, osprey and other birds of prey in the Black Hills and the other geographic areas they serve.

So today is a day of quiet rest. Momentarily, one of our staff will pick up the first four of twenty young peregrines in Sioux Falls, SD. They will be carefully transported across the state (driving with baby peregrines in the back is like driving with Nitroglycerine - slow, steady, no bumps). From that point on, from dawn to dusk, our summer months will be focused on the observation, feeding, and caring for these fine birds of prey until they are 100% on their own with nature.

Now, off to check out the hammock...

We'll chat more tomorrow.

REMEMBER, LOOK UP!