rfalconcam - FalconWatch

FalconWatch

Eyes to the Skies

Harlequin banding 6-21-11

By Rochester falcon watcher MAK

Lynda and Tim picked Joyce and I up at my house and we left at 8:05am for our trip to Toronto for the banding of Harlequin. Our first stop was the Burlington bridge where we saw both adults, Cirrus and MacKenzie and 1 juvie.

harlequin-banding-6-21-11-009-burlington-juvie harlequin-banding-6-21-11-011-burlington-adult-with-prey

We stayed for about 40 minutes and decided to go straight to Harlequin Enterprises for the banding event just in case we ran into traffic issues. When we arrived I went right to work taking pics of the surroundings and buildings there to give everyone at home a better perspective of how things are laid out.

harlequin-banding-6-21-11-025-parking-lot-in-back-of-harlequinThis pic is from the parking lot of Harlequinn and the building in the background is the one the nestbox is located on the 6th floor. We went up to the 5th floor of the Harlequin building where the banding would take place. We were given red bracelets serving as our ID for getting in and out. We took pics and did the meet and greet stuff while we waited for the banding to take place. The CPF folks brought their educational birds to entertain the people attending the banding.

harlequin-banding-6-21-11-090-cpf-barn-owl harlequin-banding-6-21-11-089-cpf-education-birds1

I went back outside to view Quest as the scaffolding was ready to be raised to the nestbox. She got very close to them on either side but didn’t dive bomb them at all. First time jitters perhaps. Next year may be a whole new ball of wax.

harlequin-banding-6-21-11-115-quest harlequin-banding-6-21-11-114-fierce-mama

At this point I was getting a bit frantic because there had been no sighting of Kendal all day and when I got back up to the banding room I went to Tracy from CPF with my concerns and she knew what I was going to say before I even said it. She said she would be checking the rooftops as soon as the banding was over. Luckily that was not necessary for at the very end when the guys were putting little Harlequin back in the nestbox Kendal showed himself and we all gave a big sigh of relief and a cheer.

harlequin-banding-6-21-11-122-out-of-the-box harlequin-banding-6-21-11-169-kendal harlequin-banding-6-21-11-123-harlie

After the banding festivities we decided to go see Linn at the yellow pages building where we saw Linn and 2 juvies on the ledge above the nestbox. They will be fledging there anytime now.

harlequin-banding-6-21-11-192-yellow-pages-building-linn harlequin-banding-6-21-11-194-linn

Our next decision didn’t turn out so good for it was rush hour in the big city and we went to check out the Sheraton site with Rhea Mae and Tiago. Traffic was bumper to bumper on every street with no parking anywhere. I managed to see one adult flying above the nest site and Joyce saw a juvie hanging out on the ledge but that was it as we drove out of there. It took over 2hrs. start to finish to navigate our way through the big and busy city of Toronto. This was our last falcon sighting of the day before we headed on home with a total of 11 falcons being seen on this day.

I’d like to thankย  Harlequin Enterprises for the invitation to the banding and as always all the folks from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation for all their efforts as well as the Ministry of Natural Resources(the Canadian version of the DEC here in the states). It was an honor and privilege toย  take part in this banding event. I also want give my warmest thanks to Tim and Lynda who graciously drove Joyce and I to this special banding event. I love this little falcon family with all my heart and I so enjoyed taking pics to share with everyone! Enjoy! ๐Ÿ™‚

Here’s the link for my banding day album:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=782993952213%3A611831384&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Top

And the link to a short video of Harlequin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzLMa6pmFyg

6 Responses to “Harlequin banding 6-21-11”

  1. margaret Says:

    Joyful day. Thank you for sharing with us through your story of the day, all the wonderful pictures here and in the gallery.

  2. Maureen in MA Says:

    Great pictures, video, and summary of your exciting day! Thank you so much for sharing it all with us!! It was great to see Quest, Kendall, and Harlequin so up close and personal!! ๐Ÿ˜€

  3. Ginny Says:

    MAK,
    What beautiful photos and how blessed you were to see these most precious little families ๐Ÿ™‚
    Thank you for sharing!

  4. MAK Says:

    No problem ladies I truly am blessed! ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Shirley Says:

    I just was able to watch this.. How very very nice. It is wonderful to see our girl being a first time momma and to see her baby being banded. She looks like Quest and is sure as big as Quest was at her age. Being on the ledge worries me but these are falcons and hopefully Quest has enough of the momma instincts to watch over her baby… She has been doing such a great job so far. I want to thanks everyone who has given us the opportunity to be a part of this. We love our falcons so much and when there are success stories we thrive on any and all information… The quick actions to put a nest box (which I now call the poop deck) made it possible for Harlie to be here. For that I am grateful… It is so fantastic to watch them hatch, grow, and then so sad when they fledge because we know that soon we won’t see them anymore… Bittersweet to say the least.. So a big Hooray for the banding,and a Big thank you to everyone in Canada making sure that this is possible. And a great big thank you to Tim, Lynda, Joyce and Mak for making the trip and giving us this report…Good job all

  6. Andre Says:

    Appreciating the commitment you put into your website and detailed information you provide. It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed material. Great read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.


Sponsored By

Times Square
powered by Shakymon