Minnesota Peregrine Numbers Rebound - 50+ Statewide Pairs, 93 Fledglings In 2008

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SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- After 20-plus years as a St. Paul police officer, Bob Winsor has seen just about everything. But what happened at Snelling and Ashland Friday was certainly a first. Officer Winsor blocked a couple lanes of traffic for 30 minutes to protect a bird that was feasting on a pigeon in the middle of the road. His reasoning was simple: "Anything that kills pigeons is good with me."

But Winsor soon learned he was protecting a rare peregrine falcon, which is the fastest bird in the world.

"It's a great success story," says Lori Naumann with Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources. It's unusual to see a peregrine in the middle of a busy road, Naumann says, but they are becoming more common in the Twin Cities. And it wasn't always that way. "In the 1950s and 60s, they were almost extinct," she says. "They were placed on the endangered species list."

Thanks to intense restoration projects that started in the 1970s and 80s, Minnesota now has more than 50 peregrine pairs, which raised 93 young last year. "The population is doing really, really well," Naumann says.

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