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In what is a perhaps a comforting the-world-still-turns moment, We Energies shared photos this week of the first egg of the peregrine falcon nesting season to be found in a nest at the Port Washington Generating Station.
There are five next boxes atop We Energies buildings – the Oak Creek, Menomonee Valley and Weston Power Plants and the Public Service Building in Green Bay – and you can check in on them using these live cameras.
The first egg is in the nest of Brinn and her mate, Beasley, who have been nesting together at Port Washington for four years. The two will take turns incubating their egg(s) until they hatch.
We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) are part of a statewide effort to bring back Wisconsin’s population of peregrine falcons, which were added to the state’s endangered species list in the 1970s.
"Since our first successful nest box in the mid-90s, 402 peregrine falcons have hatched at our facilities," reads a statement from We Energies. "The falcons are drawn to tall structures along Lake Michigan or major rivers, which make many of the We Energies and WPS facilities ideal nesting sites."
Peregrine falcon nest boxes have also been installed atop other tall Milwaukee-area structures, including the U.S. Bank building Downtown.
We Energies reports that nearly a quarter of all peregrine falcons born in the wild in Wisconsin were hatched at We Energies and WPS facilities.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
