Xcel Energy Falcon Cam
Falcon Cam
Active: March - May
Four Locations in Minnesota
Our Falcon Cam features four different nest sites at Xcel Energy power plants in Minnesota. Xcel Energy’s involvement with bird cams began with the Falcon Cam in 1997, when the first camera came online to help raise awareness for our partnership with the Raptor Resource Project (RRP) and peregrine falcon conservation efforts. It was installed at our Allen S. King Plant, in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, and soon after, we installed Falcon Cams at our Riverside Plant in Minneapolis, High Bridge Plant in St. Paul, and Black Dog Plant in Burnsville, Minnesota. Streaming video is provided from the Allen S. King Plant nest box. The other Falcon Cam locations provide updated photos every two minutes. All the cameras archive photos for the day in the Daily Pix section. Local time, Central Standard Time (CST), is used for these images.
Daily Pix
Latest News
Spring continues to be slow to come in Minnesota and the falcons are a tad behind in their nesting. Belinda at the Allen S. King Plant laid her first egg on Friday, April 11. We will be watching for more. This week a female falcon was spotted at our Black Dog Plant. We believe it might be Nora, the female who has nested at the plant for several years.
After a very cold and snowy winter in the Midwest, the falcons are returning and spring is near. We have seen two peregrines courting in the nest box at the Allen S. King Plant. The female is Belinda and the male is Brent, a bird who fledged from a cliff in southeastern Minnesota in 2006. So far there's no sign of Belinda's previous mate, Doug. At the Black Dog Plant we have seen two adult male falcons at the nest box throughout the winter. Two female falcons have now been spotted on the property. None of these birds have been identified yet.
We continue to see a male falcon at the Allen S. King Plant nest box. It's not Doug, the plant's resident male peregrine for the past several years. It's too soon to tell -- Doug and Belinda may be on their way home. Viewers can watch the the birds return via live streaming video available through the King Falcon Cam.
There is not much news to report at this time from the falcon boxes -- it's still early; although, a male falcon was spotted at the Allen S. King Plant last week. It's a positive sign for things to come.
It's too soon for peregrine falcon nesting, but we expect to see activity when the migrants begin to return this next month. The male falcon living at our Black Dog Plant is an exception, this bird has spent the entire winter at the site. Nora, who has traditionally nested at Black Dog, appears to have gone south for the season.
About Falcon Cam
Peregrine falcons find the boxes installed on power plant stacks attractive as nesting sites because they offer some of the same features as the high cliffs, which they naturally prefer. Installed 300 to 600 feet above the ground, the boxes provide a perch where peregrines have an excellent view of the skies around them and can quickly spot and “skydive” for prey. The boxes were first installed at our Minnesota power plants beginning in 1989 to help return peregrines to the Mississippi River Valley
Interested in corresponding with other Bird Cam viewers? Join the BirdCam Forum available through the Raptor Resource Project.
Falcon Facts
- Both parents help raise their young.
- Have been known to live up to 15 years.
- Eat prey largely made up of other birds which they catch in flight.
- Use of the pesticide DDT nearly wiped out the entire population in the 1960s.
- Peregrine Falcons are the fastest raptors on earth, with diving speeds over 200 miles per hour and level flight speeds of over 60 miles per hour.
