Madison Gas and Electric has named two peregrine falcons Honey and Monarch to celebrate pollinators.
The chicks were hatched at a nesting box at MGE’s downtown Madison Blount Generating Station in May.
The names reflect important pollinators and are a nod to the work MGE does to help pollinator habitats. MGE has partnered with vegetation consultants to plant native seed mixes at MGE-owned and operated solar sites to provide more pollinator habitat.
Wisconsin peregrine falcon expert Greg Septon banded the chicks at Blount on Tuesday morning so they can be tracked throughout their lifespans.
The female chick was named Honey and is a celebration of MGE welcoming honeybees to its O’Brien Solar Fields site in Fitchburg. It is one of MGE’s first pollinator sites. The bees reside at five beehives.
Monarch, the male of the duo, is a nod to three MGE sites where native seed mixes were specifically used to support monarch butterflies from egg to caterpillar to butterfly.
Both chicks were born from Trudy, a falcon who has been nesting at MGE’s box for 12 years. She laid four eggs, but only two hatched.
MGE’s falcons have had a hatch rate of about 90% over the last 15 years, above the statewide average of 75%.
A total of 63 falcon chicks have hatched at Blount since 2009, the first year falcons began nesting at MGE’s power plant.
Peregrines were once extinct in the state of Wisconsin but reintroduced in the 1980s and are now listed as endangered.
