Three Falcon Chicks Banded, Declared Healthy
idfg-mcoleman
The peregrine falcon chicks that hatched three weeks ago in a nest box in downtown Boise were fitted Saturday with bands that will inform researchers about their age, sex and hometown.
Thousands of people have been watching the growing chicks and their parents via a webcam that went online for the first time this spring:
Biologists climbed out onto the 14th floor ledge of the One Capital Center at 10th and Main streets to retrieve the three chicks and put a small metal band on one leg of each bird.
Idaho Fish and Game put up nest boxes for peregrine falcons in downtown Boise in 1990. The box at One Capital Center has been occupied since 2002.
Bruce Haak, biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Haak said that trying to track birds like wide-ranging peregrine falcons that move between continents greatly increases the difficulty of conducting a banding study, but the effort can contribute important information, such as survival rates, migration routes, effects of environmental pollutants, disease and behaviors.
"One of the more interesting and valuable pieces of information generated about peregrines is: Where do they end up as breeders?" Haak said.
Band information is collected when the birds are trapped or found dead. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Bird Banding Laboratory in Laurel, Md., maintains a database with information about all birds banded with official, individually numbered bands between Canada and Mexico.
"When someone reports finding a banded bird, dead or alive, the Bird Banding Lab can tell them the age, sex and species of the bird, when and where it was initially banded, and who banded it," Haak said.
Young peregrines hatched in Southwest Idaho have been found to winter 1,000 miles away in San Diego and Los Angeles, he said.
The Peregrine Fund is best known for its work to save the peregrine falcon from extinction after DDT nearly wiped out the population in the 1960s. The organization pioneered captive-rearing and release techniques, eventually releasing 4,000 falcons to the wild. The peregrine falcon was removed from the U.S. endangered species list in 1999.
For more information about falcon recovery and banding contact Susan Whaley at the World Center for Birds of Prey at 208-362-8274 or 362-3716.