Tracking devices so tiny a monarch butterfly can support them, are being repurposed to help track the fastest creature in the world: the peregrine falcon.

‘Gino Falcone’ a peregrine falcon born this past spring at a Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) generating station in Port Washington, WI, was banded in the nest, and has been making a home in the Bay of Green Bay and is especially fond of the cliffs of Door County.

WPS Spokesperson Matt Cullen shared the tracking map of Gino Falcone’s flight patterns, noting that this particular bird has flown across the water of Green Bay at least five times.

WPS is working with BluMorpho, a company specializing in creating technology to track wildlife. Their latest tech includes solar power cells on the lightweight tags - they weigh a mere 60 miilligrams, less than a grain of rice - eliminating the restriction of battery life on the tags. Of the peregrine chicks WPS was able to band in Spring 2026, three tags are still actively working. 

Peregrine falcons are naturally attracted to the Door Peninsula due to its cliffs and ledges providing good nesting locations, and the feeding grounds provided by Lake Mighigan and Green Bay. 

Peregrine falcons remain on the Wisconsin endangered species list, added in the years after World War II due to pesticide use. With the birds’ natural nesting habits, they gravitate to the tall infrastructure making up a power generation plant. For both the birds’ safety, and to prevent power outages caused by wildlife nesting, WPS continues to designate time and resources to installing and maintaining nest boxes at their power generation plants.

A peregrine falcon manager, Greg Septon, is employed by WPS and is working with state and federal wildlife researchers to analyze the peregrine tracking data, Cullen said. To date, this groundbreaking technology has only been used on monarch butterflies. The ultimate goal for the use of the data is to develop a clearer understanding of where young falcons go in their first years of life before they settle at a nest site to lay eggs and raise their own young.

According to WPS, since the installation of nesting boxes began at WPS in the 1990s, 476 peregrine falcons have been named and banded at company facilities, which represents 20 percent of all peregrine falcons hatched in the state.