I received this information in an email today about banded falcon, Mindy, from the LTV (Mittal) Steel plant near Cleveland, OH [Lake Erie] found injured in Whiting in northern Indiana. Prognosis is good.
Our thanks to Elizabeth who braved the cold to rescue this peregrine! 
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Elizabeth Kurella was on her way to mass at St. John’s Church when she observed an injured banded Peregrine Falcon standing in the middle of the street at Lincoln Avenue and 119th Street. She corralled it onto the sidewalk against St. John’s Gymnasium Building at about 11:30 a.m. and started making calls for help save it including one to JoAnn Palko. She was freezing, not dressed for the outdoors, but was staying with the bird until it could be rescued. JoAnn called me, Skip Gehring and others, but my land line was busy.
After she reached me, I immediately went to rescue the bird and saw Elizabeth with a group of teenaged boys guarding the falcon. Using my long handled net, the bird was captured by a man who grabbed the net from me and netted the falcon. We put it in a box and in my car for safe keeping.
I made some calls to see if any Porter County birders were in the area to take it to Dr. Reed’s clinic, but no luck and then called the Michigan City IDNR office. The dispatcher contacted Conservation Officer Terri Arlandson who was starting her shift in the Kankakee River area and said she would pick up the falcon. She picked up the bird at my house at about 3:50 p.m.
Terry called me Monday morning to say she kept the bird overnight and it drank water from an eye dropper and delivered it to Dr. Lawrence Reed at the Westchester Animal Clinic. The leg band colors and numbers were called into John Castrale, Nongame Bird Biologist with the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife in Mitchell, IN.
John’s report:
“A Conservation Officer reported an injured falcon (1687-02147, b/g S/26) near downtown Whiting (Lake County), Indiana, on 1/29/2012. It was taken to a vet (Lawrence Reed, Westchester Animal Clinic) who noted a fresh wing fracture, but the prognosis for release is good.
According to the Midwest database, this bird (female named Mindy) was banded as a nestling in 2008 at the LTV (Mittal) Steel plant near Cleveland, OH [Lake Erie]. There are no reports of her being encountered away from the banding site. There are several peregrine nests sites in the Whiting area (near Lake Michigan), but this bird has not been identified at any of them.”
It was assumed to be connected to falcon nesters at the Whiting BP Refinery, so it was a big surprise to learn it migrated here from the Lake Erie area. When the bird has healed, it will be released back in Whiting.
Carolyn Marsh
Login
Register
FAQ
Thanks for posting that, Jazzel. . .I think I have fallen in love with Semi!!!!
