They might be giants

Mary Ann became my temporary BFF.

Way back in March at the Adams County Bird Syposium, a raffle was drawn for a chance to see the banding of some peregrine falcon chicks in Aberdeen. A friend of Mary Ann's won, but since she was already involved in the banding of the chicks in Cincinnati, she gave the chances to Mary Ann. And that's when I became her new BFF.
(If you don't remember who Mary Ann is, she is in this post. And this post. And this post. She has no blog. Poor dope.)

No, I wasn't using her just for the banding opportunity. Well, maybe 10 percent. Okay, 20.
I mean, we're talking peregrine falcons here. Baby ones. My totem bird. My favorite.

In all seriousness, Mary Ann is a fun and tolerant new birding companion and I was so thrilled that she let me come along.
But honestly, I wonder at the agonized howls that would have ensued from my mouth if she hadn't.

So with an hour-long drive in my falcon-mobile, we arrived.
In fact, let's just get to the photos, huh?



The Peregrine Falcon project is administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife.

And this is the lady who travels all over the state banding the babies:

(Jennifer Norris with our Mary Ann)

From the ODNR website:
"Along with several other Midwestern states, Ohio began introducing the birds in 1989. Several pairs were released in cities between 1989 and 1992. Last year in Ohio, 19 nesting pairs of peregrine falcons are estimated to have successfully hatched and fledged 64 young. An estimate was made because actual counts were unavailable due to site access for some nests.
Federal funds for the peregrine falcon project and other wildlife diversity efforts of the Division of Wildlife are provided through the State Wildlife Grant Program, which targets species with greatest conservation need.
The division's peregrine falcon management program is funded by the sale of cardinal license plates, the division’s new Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp and contributions to the state Wildlife Diversity & Endangered Species Check-off Fund. "


Quick note about bands:

These dual-colored bands will show up at a distance and the letter/number combination can easily be read. They are read from top to bottom, so the one on the left would read "black over red, 16Y".
If you ever see a banded peregrine falcon, here's a handy chart to tell you where it came from:

Red                 Captive bred
Black/red bicolor   Eastern United States
Black/green bicolor Eastern United States
Blue                Tundra Peregrines
Black/blue bicolor  Tundra or Anatum captured off the breeding grounds or subspecies unknown
Green               Peale's Peregrines
Black               Anatum Peregrines

Another band, in purple, is fitted on the other leg. These are USFW bands.


We found out that a local sixth grade class (I did a program at that school!) came up with names for these chicks. Since Mary Ann, myself and one other woman were the only audience members, we each got to choose which falcon would get which name.

And here are the babies (all females, by the way):

Skylar



Flyte



Epic

(The largest and likely the oldest of the three. This is the one I named!)



Aside from the bands, parasites and blood samples were collected:




Peregrine chicks start out life not with that majestically long, rudder-like tail, but instead sport a stubby butt that looks like it belongs on a chicken:




Check out the limp toes (this is a defense mechanism).



Epic had the remains of breakfast stuck in her beak (see the tan feather?).



Let's just soak in the adorableness of that face for a minute......


These babies will grow up to be the race cars of the sky, blue-gray thunderbolts that split the air with their speed and strength. But this day, at 3 weeks old, just fuzzy white perfection.

This last photo makes my heart do a drum roll.
Those toes, the same type of toes that curl around my thumb and forefinger on a regular basis, that clench my hand when the owner needs reassurance, the toes that take food from my hand and have a firm hold on my heart....


Good luck, little ones. Go forth and multiply.

Bird Banding

Bird banding has a long history. The first person to attempt to mark a bird was Quintus Fabius Pictor, somewhere around 200 b.c. This Roman officer was sent a swallow from a besieged garrison and used thread on its leg to send back a message.
Falconers in the Middle Ages would affix plates to their falcons with seals of their owners.

Banding (or "ringing" if you're British) for scientific purposes began in 1899 with Christian Mortensen, a Danish schoolteacher, using zinc rings on European starlings, hawks, storks, etc.

Banding comes in many forms: leg bands, neck collars, radio transmitters, dyeing of feathers and wing tags.
Aside from banding the bird, measurements like weight, toe pad length, wingspan, etc. are collected.

From the USGS:
The first records of banding in North America are those of John James Audubon, the famous American naturalist and painter. In 1803 he tied silver cords to the legs of a brood of phoebes near Philadelphia and was able to identify two of the nestlings when they returned to the neighborhood the following year.

Today, the program stretches from the Canadian Arctic to the tropics of Latin America, from Newfoundland to the far Pacific islands, and beyond to places like Siberia, Greenland, and Antarctica. Wherever North American birds go, bird banding is there.

Virtually all species are, or have been, banded. Currently, 1,200,000 birds are banded, and 85,000 recovered, each year. More than 63,000,000 birds have been banded since the beginning of the program, and 3,500,000 have been recovered and reported to the banding offices. Millions more have been recaptured or resighted by banders.

These banders include federal and state conservation agencies; university associates; avocational ornithologists; bird observatories; environmental centers; nongovernmental organizations; environmental consulting firms, and other private sector businesses. Currently, more than 6,100 banders are operating in US and Canada.

If you are a birder, you know the value of bird banding. The sheer physical abilities of the birds, the distances they travel, their life spans, trends in migration and a species status among a changing environment...all are known thanks to banding.

Some fun wild bird banding stats:
Gray catbird banded in Florida was found in Pennsylvania 13 years later.
Atlantic puffin....lived for 31 years, 11 months.
Great Horned Owl...lived for 28 years.
Red-tailed hawk: 28 years, 10 months.

I have a favorite saying, and I wish I knew who coined it. Here it is:
We conserve only what we love.
We love only what we understand.
We understand only what we are taught.
Non-birders or those who have not had the opportunity of this knowledge might have some opinions about banding birds. Maybe they think we are "harassing" wildlife, that we are dooming a bird to die by placing a metal or plastic band to its leg. I'd like to help erase those opinions now.
Bird bands are very light. They are sized appropriately for the species that will wear it. A hummingbird's band weighs less than one-hundredth of a gram! By comparison, a hummingbird wearing a band is the equivalent to a human wearing a wrist watch.
We can't give a bird our phone number so they can call us to report on its whereabouts or how it's doing. A recovered band is invaluable.
Banding is done with the utmost respect given to the bird, and a bird is kept in hand no longer than absolutely necessary.
If there are those who still have doubts about banding, remember this:
We have been banding for 100 years in this country. It's working.

Now, onto some photos from a great horned owl banding:

The one chick in the nest is banded....


...then gently lowered to the ground to let wildlife photographers get photos of this bundle of grit and attitude that they have been obsessively watching for weeks:



As luck would have it, an orphaned owlet needed another nest, and she was brought out to compare with Owlet #1:


Meet your new sister:


They are approximately the same age, and feeding two babies is more than manageable for the parents. (Great Horned Owls can't count, anyway!)

Owlet #2 looks up at her new home.
The youngin's were placed in the nest, and given a free meal. Reports from a certain Owl Sitter say that both chicks are still in the nest and the parents are preening and feeding both owlets.



This little event brought out some weird but friendly people:

Nina, in a strangely familiar pose....

Also my mother, kids and Kathi, aka KatDoc:



I made everyone strike a pose that seems to have become a tradition...Everybody POINT!!!

It's worth the download time...I promise.

This is what the girls and I did today:

We visited a red-shouldered hawk nest, and got to watch a banding!

Jeff (from RAPTOR) is the resident crazy tree-climber.
This was a very tall, very beautiful sycamore.

Melinda prepped her banding stuff while Jeff made the climb.


Here's the first chick....and guess who got to hold the chicks?

My chicks!
(I thought they would be able to maybe touch a chick with one finger, or something!)

There are three chicks in this nest and the girls named them: Kissy, Fiesty and Skittles.
(And for my in-laws and anyone else who would be worried about the safety of my kids: 16 day-old hawk chicks don't have the strength in their legs to do any damage. They can't even sit up at this age.)

It was 90 degrees today, and since birds don't sweat, they have to pant.

I think this one is Kissy....

"This is very undignified, lady."

Susan Gates, a fellow RAPTOR volunteer, came by to see the banding, too.

Measurements of the 10 th wing feathers were taken...

...and also the length of the toe pads.

They were weighed, and all are healthy.

The bands were placed, and the legs do not get any bigger, so there are no worries about the bands someday getting too tight.



Imagine this drama going on in your front yard?????

You know I had to get one in my hands.
They look very fluffy, but they don't really feel fluffy. It was more like a cat that is left outdoors...gritty and kind of rough.

Lorelei helped Melinda take the bag of chicks back to the tree so they could be lifted up to the nest, where Jeff was waiting.
Melinda has received SuperHero status with Isabelle and Lorelei. I asked Isabelle what she thought of Melinda for letting them hold the chicks, and she said, "Melinda ROCKS."




People who do this sort of thing must be a little crazy. But gutsy, too.
What a neat thing to be able to do on a regular basis!

(Photo by Jeff Hays)
All chicks were returned safely to their nest.
And just as Jeff was finished, one of the parents came back, landed in the nest right in front of Jeff, suddenly realized that a person was in the tree, dropped a meadow vole in the nest, and took off. He came back again and again, screaming and swooping at Jeff.
Did I get pictures of that?
Nope. I was too caught up in the moment.
Did I remember that I can take video with my camera? Nope.
(He wasn't hurt...but he felt the wings of the parent as it zoomed by)
So, Birdchick and Lynne may have seen a peregrine banding, but I got to hold one and so did my kids.
Neener. Neener.