Peregrine Falcon
Fledglings Take
Flight!
As mentioned in our last update, we
have a pair of peregrine falcons
named Sheila and Havoc who
returned to a purpose built nest box
to breed at Alcoa Anglesea Power
Station for the sixth consecutive
year in August. Four eggs were laid
this year and three of these hatched
in October. Unfortunately, we were
not able to undertake our usual
banding activity with The Victorian
Peregrine Falcon project this year
due to high winds that made using a
travel tower unsafe in the window of
time available. However, after
careful monitoring of our live falcon
webcam
(www.alcoa.com.au/
falcons) an educated guess has
been made that we have welcomed
one female and two males this year.
The falcons have a dedicated group
of followers around the globe via
the webcam and this year we
hosted two couples from Salt Lake
City, Utah, USA who made a special
detour to Alcoa Anglesea Power
Station on their Australian holiday
to see the birds (at a distance) for
themselves. After holding a global
naming contest on the internet, and
receiving submissions from far and
wide, this year’s fledglings have
been named Froona, Barega and
Warrun respectively. Each of these
names has a significance that can
be related back to Peregrine
Falcons. Barega and Warrun flew
the coop in mid November and
Froona followed almost a week
later. After weeks of watching and
wondering,
another
breeding
season is over and we hope to see
Sheila and Havoc return in 2010.
We recently received notification
from The Victorian Peregrine
Falcon Project that one of the birds
previously banded at Anglesea is
now breeding near Batesford in
Geelong, proving that our peregrine
falcon nest box is contributing to the
ongoing survival of this threatened
species.
Sulphur Dioxide
(SO2)
The three fledglings in the nest box.
Bushfire Preparation
Because we are a large land
manager and employer in Anglesea
we have a well established
emergency response plan. As part
of our usual bushfire season
preparations we have met with and/
or talked to DSE, Anglesea CFA,
interested individuals and a number
of people whose land backs on to
ours in recent weeks about bushfire
readiness ahead of the upcoming
fire season.
Alcoa Anglesea continues to
monitor and work on SO2
management as part of the daily
operation of the power station.
SO2 is an air emission released
from the stack that is created when
the Anglesea brown coal is burnt in
the power station as the coal
contains sulphur. As many readers
know, the Alcoa Anglesea SO2
project has been active since the
late 1990’s. As technology and
knowledge improves we are able to
implement different management
techniques. We are currently
commissioning a new Air Quality
Control System as part of our
ongoing commitment to continually
improve our SO2 management. We
believe after this technology is fully
commissioned at the end of the
month the station will be in an even
more proactive position to anticipate
and mitigate SO2 events.
Community
Consultation
It has been a year of robust
discussion and shared learning at
our
bi-monthly
Community
Consultation
Network
(CCN)
meetings. Our final CCN meeting
for the year is on Monday 7
December at 7pm and will be an
informal Christmas get together.
Everyone is welcome. RSVP’s are
essential and can be made via
[email protected] or 5263
4249.
These
meetings
will
reconvene in early February 2010.
To learn more about Alcoa
Anglesea Power Station please
contact Community Relations
Officer, Anthea Doran via 5263
4249 or [email protected].
au or visit www.alcoa.com.au/
anglesea