General

Beak Randby’s big adventure

She’s OK! 

OPPD’s newest falcon chick gave her fans quite a scare Sunday morning when she appeared to fall off a perch near her nesting box at the utility’s North Omaha Station (NOS) generation plant. 

Just days earlier, loyal falcon watchers and many others voted online to name the young falcon “Beak Randby,” in a nod to KETV meteorologist Bill Randby. 

Beak, as we’ll call her, is the latest offspring of Lewis and Clark, a peregrine falcon couple that have made the nesting box their summer home. She was banded June 6. The falcon pair, who are also siblings, have raised nine other surviving offspring since 2020. 

A big scare

The big scare with Beak happened shortly after 5:30 a.m. Sunday. OPPD’s live-streamed falcon webcam, which you can watch on YouTube, showed her on a perch just outside of the nesting box. Suddenly, Beak appeared to lose her balance and slip off screen. 

Concerned falcon-watchers quickly contacted OPPD. One of OPPD’s volunteer falcon banders and North Omaha Station employees searched the area but couldn’t find her on Sunday. 

But Lewis and Clark were seen circling overhead, a sign that they could see Beak and were guarding her.  Alerting calls from other birds hinted at her location. 

On Monday, an NOS employee spotted Beak on a stairwell, looking alert and healthy and probably wondering what all the fuss was about. The employee reported that Beak was chirping and flying around. 

Mom and Dad keeping watch

Beak’s mother, Clark, is now staying nearby to protect her youngest chick. Lewis is scouting the area from the nest box for any and all threats. 

OPPD’s volunteer banders say Beak may appear on the nesting box camera again once her wings ger stronger, but it will depend on where Clark chooses to feed her. 

Once she learns to hunt on her own, she’ll venture out more frequently, said Jerry Toll, a longtime falcon observer who has volunteered to band all of OPPD’s peregrines. 

Toll said young peregrines can sometimes go missing when they fledge and try to fly for the first time. 

“Sometimes they take a leap of faith and it all works,” Toll said. 

OPPD Digital Channel Specialist Jaclyn Arens contributed to this report.