On Thursday, July 24, 2008, John and Dale Stokes with S.O.A.R. (Save Our American Raptors) and hosts of the Rock City Raptors show received a 31 day old male Peregrine Falcon from Minnesota.
Upon arrival, Rocky as he was named and was placed in a hacking cage next to Lover's Leap at Rock City.
Rocky remained in the cage for 3 weeks and then was fitted with a special transmitter and ID bands prior to his release.
If he stays close, Rocky will be tracked with the transmitter which has a 14 mile line of sight range.
Rocky is the third Peregrine to be released from this site as part of a program that is attempting to return Peregrine Falcons to Lookout Mountain, where these birds once thrived.
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At 6pm John Stokes picked up a strong signal from Rocky on a bluff about 5 miles south of the hacking cage towards Flintstone, he could not locate him with Bio's but had a very strong signal. So he keeps moving south along the same route the other hacked Peregrines took before they turned back north for a few days. Good news is that he is flying well and we hope he can find food, if not he may return to the cage which has food waiting for him if he does. Stay tuned.......
8/14/08
9am ...John Stokes reports a strong signal from Rocky about 1 to 2 miles south of the hacking box, yesterday evening he was 5 miles south of it, John is watching to see if he returns for some quail that has been placed on top of the hacking cage.....stay tuned.
8/16/08
Dreama was on the east tower at 7;30pm, this means she will likely roost on the gate opener at the dam where Roi and his mate have roosted for many years. She has been gone somewhere since March 1.
Dreama is a female perigrine which that has been spotted a few times in the Chattanooga Area for multiple years.
8/18/08
John reports that he has been unable to pick up a signal from "Rocky" since late Friday, he will try again using a small Piper Cub tomorrow. Food is still out on the hacking cage, Rocky could be out of range or something may have happened to the transmitter, the signal works on line of sight up to 14 miles and so far he has been tracking him from the high ground of Lookout Mtn but will try from the valleys also tomorrow.
Dreama was not located this morning but she has been seen around 7pm at the dam over the weekend which is a good sign that she is returning to her old roost on the gate opener crane at night.
