The two peregrine falcon chicks hatched in a nesting box atop the J.P. Pullman Power Plant in Green Bay now have adorable names to go with those adorable faces.
More than 400 classes and children submitted names in the annual contest sponsored by Wisconsin Public Service and Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary. The selection committee chose the winning names as:
Cliff: Submitted by the kindergarten class of Zion Lutheran School of Wayside in Greenleaf, after learning the falcons often nest on skyscrapers, water towers, tall structures and cliffs.
Champ: Submitted by Eliza Kruszynski, a sixth-grader at St. Thomas Moore School in Green Bay, in honor of the Green Bay Packers' Super Bowl XLV victory.
The WPS nesting box has produced 52 chicks since it was built in 1995 on the roof of the plant near the mouth of the Fox River. Four eggs were laid between March 25 and April 6 this year, with two of them hatching. The chicks will be banded on Tuesday.
— Kendra Meinert/Press-Gazette