Birds of a Feather

Peregine Falcon newest resident of SWHS Raptor Club

By TRICIA NEAL, CJ Staff Writer

Her likeness appears on the Coat of Arms of the Isle of Man. She’s been the mascot for the U.S. Air Force since 1959. She’s been named the official bird of the city of Chicago. Suzuki’s Hayabusa motorcycle, the company’s fastest model, is named for her.

She has every reason to hold her head high. But on Wednesday, as a small group gathered to greet her, she acted a bit like a nervous child — fidgeting and flapping, avoiding eye contact except for the occasional inquisitive, wide-eyed stare.

She’s a Peregrine Falcon — extremely rare in these parts — and she’s been brought to Southwestern High School’s Raptor Rehabilitation facility to regain her strength and confidence so she can once again soar and swoop like the brave bird of prey she’s designed to be.

“They used to be very common in Kentucky, but the last ones died out in 1944,” explained Francis Carter, director of the SWHS Raptor program.

“In the 1970s, there was one around the Laurel Lake area ... but it died. I have that one stuffed in my room. ... They were extinct in this area of Kentucky for a while, but the Fish and Wildlife Department started bringing them back in the early 1990s.”

Familiar with the shape and mannerisms of the Peregrine Falcon, Carter believed she had spotted one a time or two in Pulaski County.

“I thought I’d seen one in the area, but it was hard to know. ... They fly pretty fast,” she said.

Last weekend, Carter received a phone call from a man in Bronston who said he had found an injured hawk on the side of the road. Carter told the man to bring the bird to the Midway Veterinary Hospital the following day. There, Dr. Bruce Jasper checked the bird and determined that she likely didn’t have any major injuries.

“She was probably blown down by a car,” Carter guessed. “She was scuffed up above her nose and on one of her wings, and she wouldn’t fly. ...

“She was a little thin. They usually hide if they (are injured.)”

Dr. Jasper determined that the bird — which Carter identified not as a hawk, but as a Peregrine Falcon — “needed a little TLC and food, and then she could be released,” Carter said.

That’s where Southwestern High School came in.

The falcon was brought to the Raptor Rehabilitation facility, where Carter and approximately 30 students will feed and tend to her for a few weeks until she’s ready to begin caring for herself again.

“The kids had never seen (a Peregrine Falcon) before, so they didn’t know what it was,” Carter said, adding that they “got excited” when they learned they had the opportunity to care for such a rare bird.

“I’ve been involved in raptor rehabilitation for almost 25 years, and this is the first one I’ve ever gotten,” she said.

When the Fish and Wildlife Department began re-populating Kentucky with Peregrine Falcons, they tagged the birds they released. This falcon wasn’t tagged, leading Carter to believe that she is either “a production of the pairs (released by Fish and Wildlife) in the state or she was blown in with a storm.”

While Peregrines are rare in Kentucky, they’re more common in areas north and west of here.

Students in the raptor program have named the falcon Artemus — after the goddess of the hunt and forest.

“She’s very bright and alert,” Carter said.

“Yesterday she ate 180 grams of bird of prey diet.”

The rehabilitation facility receives deliveries of 1,000 pounds of “bird of prey diet” at a time, Carter said. The food contains vitamins, bone, hair, and other animal parts on which birds of prey would normally feed.

If Artemus were free, she would feed on small animals, such as squirrels, rabbits, and ducks, Carter said. Peregrine Falcons swoop down on their prey at speeds of nearly 200 m.p.h., “punching” them with their clenched claws and then snapping their necks with their beaks.

While the students are enjoying bonding with the mighty bird of prey, they’re looking forward to the day when she’ll be healthy enough to live up to her name.

Carter wants local residents to know that it’s possible that more Peregrine Falcons are in the area.

“Please don’t shoot them,” she begged, adding that finding one is nearly as rare as finding a Bald Eagle.

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