On Monday, July 12, at approximately 5 pm, two male peregrine falcons were placed in a hack box at Rock City Gardens by John and Dale Stokes with Save Our American Raptors (S.O.A.R.)., in preparation for their release on Wednesday, July 28*. The month-old birds flew here (by plane) from Minnesota, bred by Andy Kramer.

One bird was named “Ted” by Mr. Stokes after Ted Touchstone, who was a wildlife biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “Ted helped restore many raptor species in the area including Bald and Golden Eagles,” said Mr. Stokes. “He was the person who placed the leg bands on our last Peregrine, "Rocky". Ted retired from Georgia DNR several years ago and unfortunately passed away a few months ago. I thought naming a Peregrine after him would be one way to honor his memory.”

The other bird’s name was more difficult to narrow down, as Rock City’s Facebook fans were able to decide what the peregrine would be called. “Zenith” received the most votes, suggested by the Dickerson family who recently moved to Chattanooga. Mrs. Dickerson said, “Rock City is ATOP Lookout Mountain, so it is very fitting for a high-flying falcon to be released from the zenith, or top, of such a great place." When asked about deciding on a name for the bird she said, “We thought of several names, but our children, ages 14 and 12 helped us pick which name to submit. It was a joint effort and we’ve had a blast following it and watching the votes tally up on Facebook.”

Fitted with transmitters, the birds are expected to take flight back into their natural habitat, hopefully to make this region their home since there are currently no nesting pairs in this area.

This Peregrine release program is an ongoing project for Rock City Gardens. Previous releases have included birds named “Garnet and Frieda” after the founders of Rock City, Garnet and Frieda Carter, as well as “Rocky.” This is the third hacking effort at Rock City since 2006.