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Cholena is banded 25 days after hatching.

Cane Run employees helped name the chicks. The female is “Cholena,” an American Indian name meaning “that which soars.” The male is “Cinco,” a nod to the five years the nesting box has been at Cane Run.

KDFWR estimates the chicks are 25 days old. Kate Heyden, avian biologist for KDFWR, said it’s the perfect time to band the falcons because their bone structure is almost fully grown.

“From here on out, they are going to be growing feather and muscle,” she said, adding that the falcons will shed most of their white feathers in the next two weeks. Once their new feathers come in, Cholena and Cinco will start learning to fly.

Heyden says the female falcons are typically larger than the males, so Cholena will wear a bigger band. “Each bird gets a unique alphanumeric code on its leg. The colors and codes are unique for all the falcons in North America,” said Heyden. The information from the leg bands are entered into a database available to all departments of fish and wildlife in North America to track the falcons once they leave the nest.

KDFWR employees apply a spray to Cinco to prevent feather mites.

Yet the birds are making a big comeback in Kentucky, thanks in part to falcon releases in the ‘90s and the placement of nest boxes around the state. KDFWR has placed nest boxes at five LG&E and KU power plants because the crevices and alcoves remind the falcons of their natural nesting locations and provide ample food supply.

Two falcons, known as a nesting pair, will occupy a nest box during the spring. This year, 14 falcons have hatched from the nest boxes placed at our power plants.

Peregrine falcons were first spotted near Cane Run several years ago and this is the first year falcons have actively used the nest box at that facility.


Related Article:
Our falcons are stretching their wings at Mill Creek

Happy Falcon Friday!

Our young peregrine falcon chicks, which hatched just a few short weeks ago at our Mill Creek Station, are beginning to stretch their wings. Check out the video below and visit our falcon cam for a real-time look at the chicks' activity in our nesting box.

Our friends at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources tell us that even after the young falcons take flight they'll continue to come back to the nesting box as a home base for a few months. Of course, as they get bigger, space inside the box is becoming more limited.

Imagine living in a one-room apartment with three other rowdy roommates...that's sort of like our nesting box at the moment. 

Our employees and generating facilities across Kentucky have been helping increase the peregrine falcon population since the early 1990s. Raptors such as peregrine falcons are near and dear to our hearts, and it's an honor to now be able to share with our customers our love for these birds up-close.  

Since late March, more than 24,000 viewers from 52 countries have watched Kentucky’s first peregrine falcon web camera while the falcon chicks hatched and grew from inside the falcon nest box at our Mill Creek Generating Station.


Today, the good folks with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources briefly removed the four chicks from the nest and banded them. 
The unique color bands allow biologists to identify individual falcons and track their success. The leg bands have different colors and number codes, which are inputted into a database along with the bird's gender, date of hatching and nesting place. This database is available for all departments of fish and wildlife in North America as a way to track the falcons.

Check out the photos and video below of the big day, and stay tuned to the falcon cam in the coming days as our young chicks take flight!





                                                                                                               

On any given day, the fastest fliers in the world can be found performing acrobatic dives and maneuvers — at speeds up to 200 miles per hour — at many LG&E and KU power plants.
Peregrine falcons, once on the brink of extinction, are making a big comeback in Kentucky thanks, in part, to the dedication of employees at many of our facilities who ensure nesting boxes provide a safe setting for the birds to prosper.