Snow Bird Gets Free Ride on Tower Crane

Enlarge Image A snowy owl enjoys her roost atop a Peiner tower crane.

February 7, 2007 • A snow bird has been getting an eye view of Madison, Wis., this winter. Claiming the “queen's post” on a Peiner tower crane on a construction project near the University of Wisconsin, the female snowy owl has been riding around with the crane since before Christmas. Lately her hours have been erratic, but she still keeps company with the crane operator.

 

“She comes back and forth now,” says Jim Kalscheur, Findorff Construction's site superintendent on the project. “She'll sit there and ride around with the crane, and then take off again. She stops in about every other day now.”

 

Marc Damman, site safety supervisor for the Madison crane company, climbed up the crane in mid-December to survey the status of piles of dirt and steel on the site, when he discovered the owl's perch. He began taking pictures of the bird, a rare site to see from that high in the sky. In fact, says Kalscheur, it's more common to see hawks and other birds of prey perched on tower cranes.

 

“She's just wintering here,” he says of the owl, who kept her spot all day every day for about the first three weeks after she found it. “They come down from the Arctic, start their courtship around here, and head back north as soon as it gets warm again.”

 

It's hard to say what attracted the owl to the construction site, where a mix-use redevelopment project is taking place. At a million square feet, the site will include parking, retail shops, apartments and offices for the university. Ground was broken last May and apartments will open on the site in Aug., 2008, says Jason Matilla, one of Findorff's project managers.

 

In addition to the Peiner 415, Findorff has a Peco SK400 onsite. One is situated inside the building, coming up through the pour strips in the deck. The other stands outside of it, and both are being used to pour concrete for the concrete-frame structure.

 

“They'll come down once the concrete frame skin comes down, probably late this fall,” says Matilla. By then, the snow bird will be scoping out a new perch.