Mayo Clinic Peregrine Falcon Program

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Mayo Clinic Peregrine Falcon Program

Since 1987, falcons have found a home on top of the tall buildings of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Thanks for following!
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Follow this page for the latest updates from the nest box and beyond year-round. When Mayo Clinic agreed to help restore the peregrine falcon population in the Midwest in 1987, no one expected the program to create a worldwide following centered around the nest box atop the Mayo Building in Rochester. Each spring, the nest box is home to a falcon pair and their offspring. Through two live cameras

and a microphone, falcon fans can follow along closely as the family grows and provides glimpses into their lives. Whether you're new to the program or have been following nest box happenings for some time, this page aims to bring you news from the nest box and beyond where you are.

09/03/2026

Throw Back Thursday!

Everyone, meet Mimi! Mimi was a 2008 fledge at Mayo Clinic, one of four nestlings that hatched atop the Guggenheim Building. All four nestlings successfully fledged, although you can see in today's photo that Mimi had ended up on the ground on one of her first flights. Rest assurred, she was fine and had no injuries, but had ended up in the courtyard area of the Charlton Building near one of the waiting areas, and needed assistance to get airborne again.

If you look closely, you will see that the auxiliary band on her left leg has the characters tipped on their side. By doing this, and in various combinations, we can use two characters on four different birds, as it gives us four variations of the characters. For example, the top character could be in normal position or tipped, and same for the bottom one. This allows us to take 23 letters (we don't use O, I, or Q) and 99 numbers and come up with thousands of combinations for the same color sequence that is determined by USFWS and the Bird Banding Lab.

Also, you will notice that the federal band on her right leg is purple colored. We had done that in the late 80's to differenciate between a wild produced peregrine or a captive bred one, in a very quick manner. Once the species was removed from the Endangered Species List and we wer eno longer releasing captive bred peregrines, this difference in color wasn't necessary. Jackie

09/01/2026

Thanks to everyone who answered the migration trivia questions yesterday. As promised, here are the answers. How did you do?

1) All peregrine falcons migrate. False
In North America, the most migratory subspecies of peregrine are those that nest in the northern latitudes, while others on the west coast to portions of coastal Alaska (the peales subspecies) do not migrate at all. In the Upper Midwest region, it is not uncommon for one falcon in an urban territory while the other falcon stays on territory all winter long. The current pair of peregrines at Mayo Clinic do not migrate in the fall.

2) During a typical 24 hour time period, peregrines spend an average of ______ hours a day in flight, during good weather conditions.
b) 6 hours
According to the Birds of the World by Dr. Tom Cade et al, peregrines have the following time expense report from radio-tagged peregrines: average of 17 hours perched, 6 hours in migratory flight (ranging from 1-9 hours) and approximately 1 hour hunting. There is obviously quite a bit of variability between individuals, but other research shows that spring migrants flew more hours on average than fall migrants.

3) Peregrine falcons have clear migration routes in the world. True
Generally speaking, peregrines tend to follow leading lines or coastal areas with prime habitat. Also, peregrines that nest together do not necessarily leave their nesting areas together or even follow the same route to a wintering area.

4) What month has the highest movement of peregrine falcons through Minnesota?
c) late September to mid-October
There are numerous hawk observatory stations throughout the world that document raptor and songbird migration patterns. In our region, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Minnesota and Whitefish Point in Michigan are two long-term research stations you can visit. The Florida Keys Hawkwatch (FKH) at Curry Hammock State Park recorded the largest single-day count of Peregrine Falcons, with 1,506 falcons on October 10, 2015. Follow the link for a list of stations in North America. https://www.hawkmigration.org/

5) Male peregrines generally migrate farther from their natal territories to wintering grounds or future nesting territories than female peregrine falcons. False
In the Upper Midwest, 67 females moved an average of 345 km from their natal site to their breeding site, while 73 males moved an average of 174 km. In other populations studied, females also typically disperse about twice as far as males.

Photo courtesy of Guy Marshall

08/31/2026

Fall migration is the starting point to my favorite time of the year, when the evenings turn cool, the daytime highs are perfect for sweaters and sweatshirts, and the leaves begin to change color. I thought it might be interesting to see how much folks know about falcon migration. As before, answers will be given tomorrow. Jackie

1) All peregrine falcons migrate. True or False

2) During a typical 24-hour time period, peregrines spend an average of ______ hours a day in flight, during good weather conditions.
a) 4 hours
b) 6 hours
c) 8 hours
d) more than 10 hours

3) Peregrine falcons have clear migration routes in the world. True or False

4) What month has the highest movement of peregrine falcons through Minnesota?
a) mid to late August
b) early to mid-September
c) late September to mid-October
d) mid-October to early November

5) Male peregrines generally migrate farther from their natal territories to wintering grounds or future nesting territories than female peregrine falcons. True or False

How do you think you did?

Photo courtesy of Chris and Chad Saladin

08/29/2026

Saturday's Snapshot: Celebrating Mayo Clinic Peregrines through Photography

Thanks to Tim, a Mayo employee who works on Mayo 12, he shared this wonderful image of our own Miss Hattie. Not bad looking for an eleven year old bird!

What would you caption this? Jackie

08/27/2026

Throwback Thursday!

Who else remembers this video clip of Hattie and Orton during a "wishful" incubation exchange? Make sure you have your audio on 😁

08/25/2026

Back From the Brink: Celebrating 27Years of Recovery!!

On August 20th, 1999, I was fortunate to be in Boise, Idaho, with thousands of other people celebrating this event, as the paperwork was officially submitted to the Federal Register to formally remove peregrine falcons from the Endangered Species List. On August 25th, the delisting status was officially published, and the peregrine falcon came off the Endangered Species List 🎉! Less than 30 years after being listed as an endangered species, they came off the list. History was in the making, and I felt honored to be a part of the crowd, as we all cheered when it became official.

Often recognized as the most successful restoration program in our history, the Mayo Clinic Rochester can take pride in being one of the earliest partners in our region in helping to make this day a reality, with 83 young falcons having fledged from the Clinic. I'm even more proud to see Mayo Clinic continue to see how important these birds are and to have been a part of such an amazing story. Thank you, Mayo Clinic Rochester, and thank you to all of our loyal falcon fans! Jackie

Photo courtesy and copyright Jill Biem (peregrine falcon on the North Shore of Lake Superior)

08/24/2026

Hide and Seek with Fledglings

I know it has been a few weeks since I gave you an update on the four fledglings at Mayo Clinic, but despite 1-2 visits to the city over that time period, I haven't had anything new to report.

Yesterday, both before and after a morning program, I spent another couple hours scouring the skies for a brown and cream colored peregrine fledgling, and came up empty once again. Zephyr, Mylo, Vega, and Belle are now ~ 11 weeks post fledge and are of the age where they typically disperse from their natal territory. This doesn't mean they aren't in Rochester, but most they have left town.

Where do they go? It's impossible to say! Some fledglings might only wander 70-100 miles away, while others will spend 4-6 weeks and travel thousands of miles away. We've had peregrines from the Upper Midwest travel north, south, east, and west and as far away as Lima, Peru. Most of the fledglings from our area don't wander quite that far, less than 1500 miles, to places like Ontario, Manitoba, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri, or east to Illinois, Ohio, or Indiana.

So, now what? I'll continue to monitor the area for a fledgling, as well as the adults, as things can always change. This will be the eleventh winter that Hattie and Orton spend in Rochester, as they arriveddi n the spring of 2016. As mentioned before, some peregrines may migrate while others don't, based on many things but not always food, but rather their genetics and the "type" of peregrine they are. Our regional birds are of mixed ancestry at this point, having primarily anatum (the extripated species from the lower 49 states except for a few remote areas), the tundra (highly migratory subspecies of the north) and peales (the subspecies found in the Pacific northwest).

Here are Hattie and Orton in their most recent typical perching area in town, the west side of the Siebens Building. Jackie

08/22/2026

Saturday's Snapshot: Celebrating Mayo Clinic Peregrines through Photography

Can you feel the attitude? Caption this photo of Zephyr, perched proud and tall on the south side of the Mayo Building in July. Jackie

Photo courtesy of Guy Marshall

08/21/2026

How Rhye Became An Ambassador Peregrine

Many of you have met Rhye, a female peregrine falcon that hatched in the wild in northern Minnesota, or have seen her photos in materials promoting information about the peregrine story. Rhye has been a part of outreach activities throughout the Upper Midwest since early October 2020, now meeting over 20,000 people a year! WOW!

She was one of four chicks, the youngest in the brood, but by far the largest! on July 26th, 2020, she was perched on the deck area of the nest box, preening her feathers with one other sibling.One of her siblings opened up their wings and inadvertently knocked the 35 day old Rhye off the box. Since she was still at least a week away from fledging and the strong winds that day, she couldn't coordinate her flight, resulting in a collision with the building. I know all of this, as I was there observing the site that day and saw the misstep and collision.

I quickly brought her to a rehabilitation center in northern Minnesota, where it was deemed she had severe enough injuries to her wing to prevent her return to the wild. Within a month, the paperwork had come through from US Fish and Wildlife Service and MNDNR that would allow me to posses her for education outreach in the region.Within the month, she was found to be so tolerant of a captive life, she conducted her first outreach program at Mayo Clinic as part of the Heritage Days celebration.

So on this date, six years ago, I'd like to celebrate her 6th year anniversary in my care, for helping me share the peregrine story and provide happiness and healing to so many people. May we have at least another six years together, doing the same thing. Jackie

The photo was taken five days after I acquired Rhye, eating calmly outside on the fist. Even then, you can see her confidence and spirit in her eyes.

NOTE: All birds are handled under a special use permit from the State of Minnesota and the US Fish and Wildlife Service and are not owned by the permit holder

08/19/2026

Where are they Wednesday?

Sota was one of my most memorable Mayo Clinic fledges of my time monitoring peregrines, for many reasons. One: he was one of the very first chicks I was able to band with Dr. Tordoff in 1994, an offspring of Chase and Minnsoar (named Ariel by Mayo volunteers). Two: he appeared at a site in downtown St. Paul a few years later (1998) on territory with a female named Meg, a captive-bred bird who was released in downtown Minneapolis, who had PREVIOUSLY nested with another Mayo fledgling named Spanky.

Anyway, when we identified Sota on territory that first year, we noticed something right away about him-he was missing four of eight digits, which you can see in today's photo. This assumed disability didn't hinder him at all, as he was a successful provider for his mate and offspring until the ripe old age of 19!!

So when life throws you lemons, make some lemonade and don't give up! Jackie

Address

200 1st Street Southeast
Rochester, MN
55904

Website

https://history.mayoclinic.org/falcon

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