Our friends over at the Woodmen (http://falcons.woodmen.org/) in Omaha announced this morning a mystery that was covertly solved late last week. There is a new male Peregrine Falcon at the Woodmen this spring, supplanting the long-lived Zeus. Surprise, surprise, the new male Peregrine in Omaha was hatched at the Capitol in 2010. It has the band combination 57/H and was assigned the name “Mintaka” as a result of our “name-the-chicks” contest.
It was just over a week I blogged (http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2013/03/peregrine-death-family/) about another Peregrine Falcon carcass recovered in Omaha. It was suspected that bird died as a result of a territorial fight. It seems we may now know the winner of that deadly battle.
You may also remember that Capitol progeny, both the male and female, also took-over in Topeka, KS. My sources tell me they have not confirmed the bands of those birds this year, but hopefully that information will be coming soon. I blogged about this last year (http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2012/04/progeny-topeka-connection/).
To see a photo of of a grown-up Mintaka at the nestbox, visit the Woodmen of World’s Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/WOWInsurance
Below, is a photo of the Capitol’s Peregrine chicks in 2010. One of these fluffballs is Mintaka, now the tiercel (male falcon) in Omaha.