Come See Pi and TRC at Northern Spark/Weisman Appearance

Pi will be continuing his training with Gail and some other winged ambassadors of TRC Saturday night at the Weisman Art Museum, as part of the Northern Spark nighttime arts festival.  The Pioneer Press has an article on what events are included in this.  Here is a schedule of TRC's appearance (from 10:00 - 10:50 pm tonight).  The Weisman is at 333 East River Parkway, on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota.

Meet Pi the Bald Eagle at The Raptor Center

 Some of you might have already meet Pi, who is one of our "newer" education ambassador birds at The Raptor Center. Pi is just finishing some of his training to learn how to be an education bird at TRC. He was admitted into our clinic as an already fledged (flying) bird. We found nothing wrong physically, but he showed too much curiosity/interest in people. Some of the behaviors were consistent with birds that are human imprints (meaning, there was interaction with humans during a critical part of the bird’s cognitive and behavioral development.) Imprinted birds do not interact with other wild members of their species in the expected ways related to breeding and territorial behaviors. They also do not show the avoidance of humans that would normally keep them safe. Pi (short for pilot) was recovered on land owned by an airplane pilot, whose nickname is “Pi.”

We determined that Pi would be a good candidate to join our winged ambassador team to help teach the 150,000 people we see each year. Gail Buhl, Education Program Manager at The Raptor Center and Pi’s primary trainer, is working with Pi to ensure that he is comfortable with the different things that he will encounter in his new job as an ambassador. He will learn that doorways, cars, baby strollers and loud noises cannot hurt him as Gail slowly exposes him to these new experiences. This will allow him to grow tolerant with all of these different stimuli in the world he now lives in.

We invite everyone to come to TRC and meet Pi, and our other education ambassadors!

The Raptor Center Announces Dates at Minnesota State Fair

The Raptor Center will present programs at the MNDNR Stage at the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday, September 1 and Monday, September 3.  The times for both days will be 11:00am, 1:00pm and 3:00pm.  We will also be at the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) tent on Thursday, August 23.   We look forward to meeting you all and introducing you to some of our winged ambassadors!

Peregrine Banding at Mayo Clinic Rochester - Celebrating 25 Years

The Raptor Center Co-founder and Director Emeritus Patrick Redig attended the peregrine falcon chick banding at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Tuesday.  The Rochester Post Bulletin covered the story.   This year is special, as it commemorates 25 years of the Mayo Clinic site being involved in the Midwest Peregrine project. 
More information on the Midwest Peregrine Society project can be found on the website here. 

Peregrines at Bremer and Wells Fargo

Three peregrine chicks were banded at the Bremer Tower, formerly North Central Life in downtown St Paul, and four chicks were banded at Wells Fargo, formerly Norwest Financial Center in Bloomington. 

The first year nesting was attempted at Bremer was1988, and since then a total or 63 young have been produced.  The male is again Sota b/r 8/*E, and the female is Jill b/g 50/B.  Jill is a 2002 hatch from Castle Rock inTrempealeau County, Wisconsin.  Sota is a 1994 hatch from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  
He has been at this site since at least 03/18/98; he lacks toes 2 and 3 on both feet. On the right, stubs are short, on left toe 2 is short, toe 3 lacks only the claw and distal phalanx.  There is no definitive explanation of what happened.  He is obviously still capable of not only finding prey for himself, but also a family each year. 


For the fifteenth year, a pair nested in an open tray on the east side of the building at Wells Fargo. The female is nine-year-old Speedy b/g 30/E, a 2003 hatch from the King plant in Bayport, MN and the male is eight-year-old MPR2 b/g D/32, a 2004 hatch from the Multifoods Tower in Minneapolis, MN.  The first year nesting attempted here was 1997, and a total of 51 young have been produced.

International Visitors to The Raptor Center

Frequently a hub of international activity, The Raptor Center had some fascinating visitors this past week.  Waheed Al Faziri, a conservation biologist from the Sultanate of Oman, toured the center with a fellow biologist from Voyageur National Park. While Waheed was thrilled to be able to see so much of what we do here, we were equally as excited to be able to hear about his work with Sooty Falcons in Oman. Sooty Falcons are tiny falcons, about the size of an American kestrel, whose population has recently been determined to be much smaller than previously believed. Data learned from satellite telemetry on several individuals on the birds’ choices for migration pathways contributed to the overall body of knowledge being used to determine conservation choices.

Later that same day, a group of colleagues from Makerere University in Uganda toured The Raptor Center. These visitors are part of the RESPOND project, a cooperative agreement with USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and other partners that the University of Minnesota is involved with. This multidisciplinary team is working to pre-empt the first stages of emerging diseases that can spread between animals and humans, an area where wildlife play a critical role. (Click here for a University News Release about this important effort.) We look forward to future conversations with these colleagues and the opportunity to work together.

Former TRC Peregrine Patient

The Raptor Center admits approximately 700 sick and injured birds into our clinic each year. We are able to rehabilitate and release many of them, despite the incredible range of injuries they sustain. This second chance at life provides those individual birds an opportunity to resume their role in the ecosystem.


We recently had an illustration of how our work directly contributes and impacts breeding populations of raptors. The folks at the Weston Power Plant in Rothschild, WI photographed their new female peregrine (see photo). These colored leg bands – one a purple USFWS and the other a project band - identified this bird as a female that was found injured in Ohio, in early 2009. Our own executive director Dr. Julia Ponder performed surgery on her wing (metacarpal fracture). Dr. Ponder was visiting Dr. Susan Orosz, a board-certified avian veterinarian in Ohio, when the bird was admitted. Clinic manager Lori Arent “imped” new feathers on her wing and tail just before she was ready to be released. Imping is a process where a new feather can be placed into an old, broken feather shaft, because it is hollow. This allows for the bird to have the needed balance and flight ability until a new feather is moulted in.

She was released in spring 2009 in Osceola, WI. This year, she is the breeding female (eggs are confirmed) at the Weston Power Plant. For more information on the Midwest Peregrine project, including a public database to look up individual site and bird information, can be found at http://www.midwestperegrine.org/.