Decades after getting it started, Racine native still guides state's peregrine falcon recovery

The bird specimen bottle had been sealed for nearly 60 years, collecting dust in a storage area at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

In December 1979, Greg Septon, then 27 years old and a taxidermist for the organization, grew curious about its contents.

He held up the jar of murky alcohol and looked for clues. His heart jumped: A notched beak was pressed up against the glass. 

A licensed falconer and raptor bander, Septon immediately knew the jar held falcon chicks. Once opened, the container produced three young peregrine falcons.

A tag inside the bottle revealed the birds' origin.

The nestlings and an adult female peregrine had been collected in 1921 at Gibraltar Rock in Columbia County by museum bird taxidermist Herbert Stoddard.

Such "collections" were common and accepted practice by naturalists through the early 20th century.

John James Audubon and others killed animals, to paint, study, photograph or otherwise preserve them for art, education and science.

Stoddard probably intended to mount the peregrines for an exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum. But he left in 1924 to work for the U.S. Biological Survey in Georgia. 

Septon decided to finish Stoddard's work. 

He painstakingly skinned, washed, dried and mounted the falcon chicks and adult. He dubbed the taxidermy display, which shows the female feeding the young on a rocky aerie, "The Reunion."

Septon liked bringing to light birds collected in Wisconsin more than a half century earlier by Stoddard, a leading taxidermist of his era. But Septon longed to work on a much larger, more significant project. And not just with glass-eyed specimens.

Part of a new generation of naturalists, Septon wanted to help lead a grand restoration. 

"All right, you recovered the birds from the storage room," said Septon, now 65 and a resident of Franklin, in a recent interview as he recalled his thoughts on peregrines following the taxidermy project. "Now let's bring back the real thing."

'Fighter jets' at bay

Peregrine falcons are wild, fast and formidable. 

Often called the fighter jets of the avian world, peregrines have been clocked at more than 200 mph during a stoop, or dive.

They feed almost exclusively on birds they strike in midair and grasp with scimitar-shaped talons.

As implied by its name — peregrine, from the Latin "from abroad" — the species was found on all continents except Antarctica. In Wisconsin prior to the 1940s, they were known to breed at cliff sites near the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, as well as along the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior shores. 

But following increased use of DDT and other pesticides in the mid-20th century, the populations of peregrines, bald eagles, ospreys and other raptors began to suffer.

The chemicals, transferred to the predators through their prey, caused the females to lay thin-shelled eggs. The eggs broke during nesting, resulting in extremely low production of young.

Many of the chemicals were banned beginning in the 1970s. Wisconsin helped lead the way and prohibited the use of DDT in 1972, a year before the federal government. The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 provided additional protections for peregrines and other birds of prey.

The environmental legislation helped limit the damage to wildlife and set the stage for future recoveries. But by the mid-1970s, peregrines had vanished from Wisconsin.

The species needed more help from humans if it was to recover.

Looking for a way back

Septon's goal to bring peregrines back to Wisconsin was ambitious, but it wasn't a pipe dream.

He knew of work started in the mid-1970s by The Peregrine Fund at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, to captive-breed and release falcons in the East.

And closer to home, starting in 1982, Patrick Redig of The Raptor Center and Harrison Tordoff of Bell Museum of Natural History, both located at the University of Minnesota, began similar efforts under the newly formed Midwest Peregrine Society.

The men procured captive peregrines from a Canadian breeder and released the birds at a variety of sites in Minnesota. 

Releases of 38 birds through the mid-1980s resulted in eight peregrine nesting attempts at natural cliff sites. However, all failed due to predation on eggs, young or adults by owls and raccoons, according to records.

"We were getting our butts kicked," Redig said. "It was time to change our strategy."

Instead of trying to re-establish nests on traditional peregrine sites, the focus turned toward the cliffs and canyons in urban America.

'They haven't looked back'

By the mid-1980s Septon was eagerly awaiting a chance to reintroduce peregrines to his home state.

He founded the Wisconsin Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project in 1986 and formed a nonprofit called the Wisconsin Peregrine Society to help raise funds for the work.

The prevailing wisdom was to place peregrine chicks at sites, then feed them, until they fledged and learned to hunt on their own. Over time it was hoped the now-wild birds would breed and repopulate the area.

Redig, who had a permit to distribute the federally protected species, agreed to make some young peregrines available to Septon in 1987.

The birds cost about $2,000 each. "It wasn't cheap getting the pump primed," Septon said. 

His employer, the Milwaukee Public Museum, supported the work by allowing him to spend time on the project, but Septon had to knock on doors and make phone calls to find financial donors. 

In a stroke of entrepreneurship, he also sold limited edition peregrine prints by Owen J. Gromme, former taxidermist at the Milwaukee Public Museum and creator of the 1946 Federal Duck Stamp. The falcon piece was called "Flash" and depicted an immature peregrine trapped and released in 1936 at the museum’s banding station at Cedar Grove.

Septon used his life savings of $3,000 to pay for production of 300 prints. But sales brought in about $30,000, helping to sustain the project.

Like an expectant parent, Septon also worked to prepare a home for his first batch of nestlings.

He didn't set his sights on just any human-built structure. He wanted to release falcons on top of the First Wisconsin National Bank (now U.S. Bank) in Milwaukee, the state's tallest building.

Company officials agreed, and Septon fitted the roof with hack boxes, open-sided structures used to temporarily house young birds.

In 1987 the first peregrines of the Wisconsin recovery project arrived in Milwaukee. Septon took the downy youngsters, 14 in all, and placed them in their urban wilderness.

Would the birds make it? Or would they be an expensive failure?

"I was having lots of sleepless nights about then," Septon said.

He crawled onto the First Wisconsin roof daily to supply the chicks with quail and monitor their progress. 

Over the coming weeks, the birds grew stronger and larger. Significantly, they were safe from predators.

Eventually 10 of the first batch fledged and were soon a regular sight in downtown Milwaukee.

The human-built environment looked nothing like the rock outcroppings and coastlines inhabited by their ancestors.

But the modern falcons had found a home largely free of predators and filled with food, including tens of thousands of rock doves, also known as pigeons.

"It had what they needed," Septon said. "And they haven't looked back."

RELATED:Greg Septon and peregrine falcons are a Wisconsin success story

Born for the job

A review of Septon's life tells the tale of a man preordained to lead a falcon recovery.

Septon was born in Racine and, apart from nine years living in California with his family during his youth, has lived in the Badger State his entire life.

He has always had an interest in the natural world, in part instilled by his father, a hunter.

And there has always been a fascination with birds of prey.

Septon recalls having an epiphany at age 11 during a visit to the bird hall at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California.

There, amid a dizzying array of mounted raptors, he realized "this is what I want to do," Septon said. 

Septon immediately began a mail-order taxidermy course. He received 10 lesson books from the Northwestern School of Taxidermy in Nebraska. 

His training was conducted on ground squirrels and quail taken around his California home, many of which were collected with his 12th birthday present: a Sheridan Blue Streak Air Rifle, manufactured in Kenosha.

Septon passed the taxidermy class, and later also became skilled in drawing and painting.

After his family moved back to Wisconsin in 1968, he obtained a falconer's license.

"I've always loved to be around raptors," Septon said. "They are, to me, the ultimate in wildlife."

The first bird he trained as a falconer was a red-tailed hawk from Wisconsin. Later he obtained a prairie falcon in Wyoming.

After graduating from St. Catherine's High School in Racine, Septon enrolled at UW-Parkside in Kenosha.

His college plans changed in 1976, when, as a sophomore, Septon learned a taxidermist position was open at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The application required three mounted birds, sculptures and watercolor paintings. Septon got the job and quit college. He never looked back.

"I always wanted to 'do' stuff and not sit in a classroom," Septon said. "This job was exactly what I was looking for."

Now, in the tradition of Herbert Stoddard and Owen Gromme, the kid from Racine was a full-fledged bird taxidermist at the state's largest museum.

Septon's lifetime goal

But Septon would become best known for his work with living birds.

"What Greg has been able to develop and accomplish is truly extraordinary," said Peter Ziegler, former head of the Society of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus, a Wisconsin-based group that was primarily dedicated to prairie chickens but supportive of all endangered and threatened species. "It's a tribute to his intelligence, hard work and vision."

After the 1987 release, Septon ramped up his Wisconsin peregrine recovery efforts. He contacted additional companies in Milwaukee and elsewhere along the Lake Michigan shoreline for permission to place nest boxes.

Beyond the releases of young birds, this phase included erecting nesting sites on tall buildings. "The lakefront is like a boulevard for birds," Septon said. "My goal was to have places all along it where peregrines could make their nests and raise their young."

The plan was to provide a corridor of nesting sites from Kenosha to Green Bay. First Wisconsin had already said "yes." In the next year, Septon received approval from seven additional companies to host nest boxes.

Septon said he had many sleepless nights during this phase of the project. "I was sure I'd look like a fool if it failed," he said.

The peregrines responded in their first year of opportunity. 

In June 1988, two yearling falcons hatched and fledged two chicks on top of the First Wisconsin building. 

"About then, it started to sink in that this might just work," Septon said.

It wasn't only a relief to Septon. It was the first documented case of peregrines breeding at one year of age. Established literature showed the birds breeding at age 2 and older.

Septon and museum colleague Annie Wendt published the finding in the Journal of Raptor Research.

The Milwaukee falcons also led to another scientific paper. In 1987, Septon observed the newly released peregrines feeding at night, often around the light at the top of the Wisconsin Gas Building. 

"These birds hadn't been taught this behavior," Septon said. "It was completely instinctual."

It was the first documented case of peregrines feeding at night.

The project recorded another milestone in 1992 when peregrines found, occupied and successfully nested at the Edgewater Generating facility (now owed by Alliant Energy) in Sheboygan. 

Septon's "lakefront plan" began to take hold.

In succeeding years, the birds continued to spread out and occupy nest boxes provided by Septon. 

It was so successful that 1992 was the last year Septon released young peregrines in Wisconsin. The number of birds in the state, and region, was now self-sustaining.

Working as a private contractor, Septon has continued leading the peregrine project throughout, performing all necessary activities from nest box maintenance to chick banding and report writing.

Septon has created strong and durable partnerships with many corporations, including utility companies.

We Energies, which has about a dozen nest boxes at its facilities, often invites local school groups to attend the peregrine banding session in spring.

"This has been our most popular study subject of the year," said Amy Meltzer, a teacher at Jane Vernon Elementary School in Kenosha, during a banding held at We Energies' Pleasant Prairie plant.

Whatever the students thought of the massive facility before, now it included "nesting site for peregrines."

In 2017, Septon banded his 1,000th peregrine chick of the Wisconsin recovery project.

Among the many remarkable aspects of the Wisconsin peregrine recovery is this: Septon has led it without receiving public funding. From the first chicks purchased in 1987 to his monitoring expenses this year, all of the financing has been secured through private donations and fund-raising. 

This year, Septon documented 111 young produced at 36 successful nest sites in Wisconsin.

Fifteen nests were located along the Lake Michigan shoreline, eight along the Mississippi River (including five on cliffs), six along the Fox River, three on the shores of Lake Superior, two along the Wisconsin River system, one on the Door Peninsula and one in Madison.

The Wisconsin work has been a key part of the regional recovery for the species, said Redig, of The Raptor Center in Minneapolis. 

"It couldn’t have been easier working with Greg," Redig said. "He was always one or two steps ahead and could turn on a dime to make things happen. He's a real credit to Wisconsin and peregrines."

Most state falcon recoveries were handled by state agencies, Redig said. But Septon's unique range of skills and licenses, including falconry, bird banding and fundraising, allowed him to lead the Wisconsin project.

Septon obtained all the necessary approvals for the work through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Regionally, peregrines now inhabit 13 states and parts of two provinces in Canada, Redig said.

The Wisconsin Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project has been deemed an unqualified success by the conservation community, according to Ziegler.

The birds are nesting on natural cliffs once more, as well as at dozens of human-built sites.

By all estimates, there are more peregrines in Wisconsin now than there were prior to the DDT-caused decline. 

In Wisconsin, the sight of peregrines has become common enough that even city dwellers can identify the swift raptors.

Most, however, wouldn't recognize the state resident who is primarily responsible for bringing the birds back.

Septon said that's fine with him.

"This is about something far bigger than any person," Septon said. "It's about helping to restore a natural heritage that never should have been allowed to vanish."

Septon said peregrines have a lot to teach humans about their relationship with the natural world, including the need for space and a clean environment.

"Any day you see a peregrine is a good day," Septon said. "Now, more people have that chance."

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