The babies were banded today!  Their names are: Dr. Jane and Tennant.  The little boy is very tiny but healthy.

Video of banding: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV_5DNYWq_g

MAKfalcon (MAK): B flew NW. No watch tomorrow as I will be attending banding events at Quest and O'Connor sites in Toronto with Joyce. See ya!

Woohoo!  Drive safely and see you guys tomorrow 

At his rate, they'll need little parachutes to keep them in the air when they fledge 

I don't know exactly why carly but I know this highway(echangeur Turcot) have to be destroyed soon. Maybe it's the reason.

Oh no, so they will be homeless then 

I wonder if anyone has suggested to them - that when they banded the surviving baby, they move the live one to the nest box to entice the parents there?  So long as it's not too far away of course.

It has been done successfully in Manitoba and it worked.  Then perhaps next year they would consider the nest box.

I know it's late now and they've already banded baby but perhaps for next year?

Thank you MAK and Shaky!  I know we worry a lot but given past history..well it's hard not to and we've seen some tragic outcomes at other sites over the years so I like to go with the proactive approach instead of waiting until it's too late. 

the great thing about this site is that there are caring people at the ready in case of trouble 

One of my friends on a panda forum shared this with us today, it's awesome!!

The Cat & The Ducklings

The Cat & The Ducklings (Animal Odd Couples)

O'Connor supervising Jack feeding the kids tonight.  Sometimes she lets him but not too often 

Beautiful story, in spite of the sad ending. 

[blue legs)]

New Blog:

Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Great Day for Bling!

Yesterday's banding event went well. HUGE THANKS to our video team for filming and to Susie Vance, who gave the "Play by Play" of the banding process. Another BIG THANKS goes out to the students, parents, teachers and faculty of Griffith Thomas Elementary School for participating in the Falcon Naming Contest.

All three chicks (1 male and 2 females) looked great and very healthy! Each received a USGS band on their right leg and a color band on their left leg. Here are the details on the "bling:"

Dart (male) black/red: 38/D (USGS band is purple, yellow legs)
Blaze (female) black/red: 48/Z (USGS band is silver, yellow legs)
Hoshi (female) black/red: 31/Z (USGS band is silver, blue legs)

Besides the leg bands (which aren't always visible), included above is a note about the color of the legs of each chick to help tell them apart while they are still in the nest. The leg color of the chicks can vary some by individual but when they mature, they will all have yellow legs. Here they are, all lined up showing their bling:

New this year, we used a camera strapped to Donna to provide a different perspective of the banding. Here is a link to a video of highlights.

After the event the chicks were returned safely to the nest and rested most of the rest of the afternoon. The nestcam lens was cleaned and hopefully it will stay that way!

The unhatched egg was left in the nest as the Division of Wildlife does not have authorization from the US Fish & Wildlife Service to remove it. If it is still present at the end of the summer when we do annual maintenance on the box, it will be removed at that time.

 

Athena and Six got a baby today!  Estimated to be around 9-10 days old.  Links to Mike's photos posted over at BCAW.

Tandem feed at 5:20 am this morning 

    Happy Birthday Carol, hope you have a great day!! 

Awww..look at that sweet face