OKALOOSA ISLAND — A small crowd watched in silence as the peregrine falcon took flight on a clear Friday afternoon and landed in a nearby tree on Air Force property.
View a photo gallery of the falcon being released »
“This is one of those moments that make our mission so worthwhile,” said Susan Leveille, director of education at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge. “It’s days like this, to see him take off into the beautiful blue sky. It makes it all worth it.”
Some people feared the bird would never fly again after it was found with an injured wing last November.
“We’re not sure what happened to him,” said Stephanie Kadletz, animal health specialist with the wildlife refuge. “It appeared as if he had been shot, but we’re not sure what happened.”
“We were told he was never going to be releasable,” added Amanda Wilkerson, the refuge’s director. “But we just didn’t give up on him.”
Refuge workers allowed the bird’s wounds to heal on their own and nursed it to better health.
Patrick Gault, a biologist at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, said he believes the falcon came from the Midwest or Canada and was passing through Florida during its winter migration.
Peregrine falcons were almost wiped out in the 1970s.
“It’s rare we get to see these birds in the wild,” Gault said. “A big reason to us on why to make sure this falcon was released is because they were almost gone. There was a point where there were only 700 left.”
http://nwfdailynews.emeraldcoastphotoswest.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=947611&CategoryID=28208&ListSubAlbums=0 pics of the release here
