Ben posted a narrative of last week's banding on CWF's website. Too bad Bonnie and I missed it this year, sounds entertaining!!
http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/education/falconcam/Quote:
June 10: I started to write this post last week or up until I forgot to save (or in this case refresh) the text in our website CMS. So, here goes again...
Image of One of two siblings of the Jersey City eyas, where she was fostered from in Ocean Gate, NJ.
Zoom+ One of two siblings of the Jersey City eyas, where she was fostered from in Ocean Gate, NJ. Kathy Clark/ENSP
The banding day when as smooth as it could. I found I would be all alone with banding there the evening before (Kathy was too engulfed in budgeting to join me). So, for the first time I would be banding at JC all alone. I have banded young falcons before, so I wasn't worried. If you know me, I like a good challenge! Six guests joined me to watch at 101 Hudson St. and our Executive Director, David Wheeler would be joining us to help. However, things changed rapidly.. Shortly after arriving I got a call from David that he had vehicles issues while only 1 mile away! He was stuck and could not abandon his car...bummer! I was all on my own now. For safety reasons, I was the only person allowed on the roof to grab the eyas. Easy, right? I thought so… I had all my gear: helmet, umbrella, gloves, box. Check. I headed out onto the roof to grab the eyas. As soon as I opened the door the adult female came diving down from the upper parapet to drive me off. We use an umbrella to ward her off. Since Kathy had the usual umbrella, I brought my wife’s. When I had to grab the eyas I needed two hands, so with no helper (to hold the umbrella) I sat it down on the edge of the nestbox and on my helmet. I quickly load the eyas in the box. I hear the female swoop down towards my head. The umbrella is gone! She took my wife’s umbrella and flew off with it! I bring the eyas inside, examined her (determined its a female) and band her legs for future tracking. All in all, everything went well considering the circumstances. I never found the umbrella…
Last week Kathy banded the other two eyas that were from the nest that the JC eyas is from. I'm sure their parents enjoy not having an extra mouth to feed (photo is above). --Ben