Raptor Propogation Program

In order to produce as many chicks as possible,  we artificially incubate all eggs in our lab.  At 12 days old, we band each chick and return them to the parent falcons who were given plaster filled fake eggs as temporary substitutes.

Many raptor breeding facilities including SAHS’s will increase the number of young produced per pair by taking the first clutch of 3-4 eggs and not replacing them with fake eggs.  This will cause the adults to lay a second clutch 14 days later.  We do this occasionally but not as a rule.

We have occasionally had access to other falcon species like white gyr falcons and have produced hybrid falcons.  These birds are a favorite of falconers who hunt with these birds.  These hybrids are not allowed for release into the wild.

In at least one circumstance we had double clutched a pair of falcons and let the parents raise the first clutch of young.  Then when the first clutch was 20 plus days old and nearly full grown, we removed them to self rear on their own in a different chamber and gave the adult falcons their newly hatched fuzzy second clutch babies.  

The adults did just fine but I wonder what it would be like to have a teenager in the house turn into an infant (I would not be happy).

Improper incubation is a disaster.  If eggs are incubated at too cool of a temperature they may not hatch or they may hatch with a yolk sac that is protruding from the chicks belly.  Only a few tenths of one degree can cause this.  The chick is going to die unless the yolk sac is tied off and pushed into the day old chick.  

I have been successful at this twice but unsuccessful as many times.  We have learned about precise incubation and have not had to deal with this in the last 10 years.

Falcons can’t count.  When the I-35 bridge collapsed there was a concerted effort to inspect all MN bridges.  

In one case in Duluth MN, a bridge needed repair work but had peregrine falcon chicks in a nest below the deck.  These chicks were sent to our facility to be raised by our parent birds with their own chicks.  

Ultimately, these birds were refostered into a twin cities peregrine falcon nest so they would fledge as wild falcons.
 

This project would not be possible without the help of the falconry community.  All adult breeding birds were donated to this program by falconers who hunted with these birds for the first two years after hatch.  

Falconers have also played a role in every major aspect of peregrine falcon reintroduction including breeding of falcons, monitoring released falcons, banding of young falcons, and caring for injured falcons.

This project was originally funded by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources Grant in the form of pull tab money. The Partnership Plan has also generously funded incubators, cameras, heart rate egg monitors, and other maintenance requests.

Minnesota falconers donated parent falcons as original breeders. Our parent birds are mostly a sub-species known as anatum peregrine falcons. These were the same type of peregrines native to Minnesota.

This project is not funded by Stillwater Area Public Schools. 
 

The Raptor Propagation Program started December 14th, 2000, and has been running for almost 16 years.

During that time, the Raptor Propagation Program has been able to produce 67 fertile offspring. Our first falcon chicks were produced in 2003, and we have successfully bred to current day.

Additionally, the Raptor Propagation Program has been able to produce a Gyr Falcon-Peregrine Falcon hybrid in recent years. This genetic recombination of traits creates a bird that is faster, stronger, and hardier in the cold Minnesota winters.

The birds we raise and sell at Stillwater Area High School are Peregrine Falcons.

There are three chambers in the center, with two birds in each chamber. The birds vary in age, but males and females are kept together in each of the chambers to bond before the mating season, which occurs from March to May.

The birds are fed a mix between coturnix quail and pigeons.

Peregrine falcons themselves are widely recognized as one of the fastest birds on the planet, and during the months of December to February we take them hunting in the Environmental Learning Center on the outskirts of Stillwater Area High School.

If you would like to learn more about the birds, contact Andrew Weaver.