In the heart of Madison, a falcon nest has captured the hearts and attention of residents for years. It’s a story of love, betrayal, and of course, birds.
In 1999, a Madison Gas and Electric employee helped his son build a nesting box as part of a school project. MGE installed the nesting box atop its Blount Generating Station and waited for nature to take its course.
It took 10 years, but according to the utility company, in 2009 a pair of peregrine falcons named Frightful and Vern made the box their home and successfully hatched chicks. The first set of chicks that hatched at Blount were named Steve, Genny, and Cole, after the MGE employee and their family who built the nesting box all those years before.
Frightful and Vern made Madison their romantic getaway until 2012, when another female bird fought Frightful for the territory, ultimately displacing her.
The new mother falcon was named Trudy. She and Vern had three sets of four chicks over the following several seasons. In 2013, the four chicks were named Arya, Catelyn, Daenarys, and Hodor for the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones.”
In 2015, a new male named Melvin came to town and the rest is history.
Melvin is a Wiscosin boy through and through. According to his ID band, he was hatched at a nesting site in Oak Creek.
The first year they were together, Trudy and Melvin successfully hatched four chicks named Barrymore, Bartell, Majestic, and Orpheum. Since then the two have hatched more than 30 chicks together.
In total, the couples have hatched more than 50 chicks in the Blount nesting box. This is a huge accomplishment for a population of birds that was declared extinct in the state in the 1960s. Peregrine falcons are still listed as endangered in Wisconsin.
MGE's falcon livestream gives you a bird's eye view of the action. (Madison Gas and Electric)
See the Falcons
This year has already proven to be an eventful season for Trudy and Melvin. Trudy laid her first egg March 31 and has since laid three more.
Four eggs is considered a “full clutch” for peregrine falcons. There’s still a possibility Trudy could lay a fifth egg. This is Trudy’s 13th year returning to the MGE nesting box, so maybe the couple will get lucky.
MGE made birdwatching easy by installing a 24/7 livestream of the Blount Street nesting box.
