We Energies' Falcons Fused into Lessons at Ozaukee County School

The We Energies peregrine falcon recovery efforts are doing more than saving birds — the program is offering educational lessons for a group of Ozaukee County students.

Fifth-graders at Cedar Grove-Belgium Middle School were "inspired" to help the We Energies falcon recovery effort after learning about the program during class, according to a press release from teacher Mary Anderson.

"A group of student volunteers developed a proposal to place two nest boxes on campus and the school board approved the proposal on
March 13th," Anderson wrote in the release. "On March 21st , a We Energies employee volunteered his time to help students construct and install the boxes on two sites.

"The boxes will be monitored and maintained by the students on a volunteer basis and observations of the nest boxes will be reported to the Peregrine Fund through their citizen scientist website."

The interest in the We Energies falcon program has helped the students spread their wings even further, and studies will now involve monitoring of other birds via online tools.

On April 10, students will participate in a Skype tour of the World Center for Birds of Prey, in Boise, ID, according to the press release from Anderson. Students will also be monitoring a webcam of American Kestrels at the World Center for Birds of Prey in the English language arts class as well as an eagle webcam in social studies.

A press release from We Energies Media Relations staff Cathy Schulze gives more information about the cooperation and the falcon program:

The learning experience will continue on Monday when We Energies Peregrine Manager Greg Septon visits the school to teach students about We Energies’ peregrine falcon recovery effort in advance of a class field trip to a falcon banding event. The tags help researchers like Septon track the birds to monitor the continued recovery of the peregrine population.

Peregrine falcons were nearly extinct after the pesticide DDT worked its way up the food chain in the 1950s and ‘60s. We Energies made a concerted effort to bring the bird back by installing nest boxes at its power plants. The birds have taken to these manmade “cliffs.” Since 1992, about 20 percent of the state’s peregrine population has been hatched at We Energies facilities.

A live webcam was recently installed at the Oak Creek facility, and hourly still photos are captured at the Port Washington location and posted on We Energies' website.