Stillwater Area High School Science Department Hatches Baby Falcons

The Stillwater Area High School science department hatched two baby falcons over the weekend.

Andrew Weaver, a biology teacher at the high school, announced on Monday that two baby falcons were hatched.

Weaver is a master licensed falconer, and has worked on peregrine falcon restoration in Minnesota since 2002. He heads the Falcon Project at Stillwater Area High School and holds permits in Stillwater for raptor propagation, radio telemetry of wildlife, and scientific collections.

Stillwater Area Public Schools is the only district in Minnesota to offer such a program.

After talking to Weaver about the chicks, Joanna Olson, a spokesperson for the district, passed along this information:

The falcon chicks are a mix of white gyr and peregrine falcon blood. As of noon today, one egg from the clutch is still in the process of hatching. It is not uncommon for the eggs to hatch a few days apart.

When hatched, the chicks' body temperature is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The chicks are covered in down so Weaver monitors them closely to ensure they do not get too hot in their temperature controlled chamber.

These chicks eat about every four hours. Their diet at three days consists of finely chopped quail, which is mixed with a little bit of Pedialyte to make it even more nutritious. The chicks eat until their crop is full. It takes them about four hours to digest the food, then it's time to eat all over again.

The sex of the chicks can be determined by testing their shells; the shells were sent to the lab today and sex should be determined in the coming weeks.

Like Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our free newsletter