Peregrine Chick Banding at Urban Location

Female Loree b/g 49/E watches over her three chicks
at the nest box.  You can see an unhatched egg in the photo.

Loree b/g 49/E

Peregrine banding season continues.  If you are following our communications, you know that the Midwest Peregrine Society is housed at The Raptor Center.  TRC staff provide leadership, technical advice and administrative support for the project, which includes 13 Midwest states and two Canadian provinces. 

Dr. Julia Ponder, Executive Director of The Raptor Center, carefully checked each of the three chicks from the Colonnade building in Golden Valley, MN, before they were banded.  Ears are checked for mites, and the oral and nasal cavities are checked for signs of a parasite that may have been transferred to the chicks from feeding on infected pigeons, which make up a great deal of their prey base.  

This site has produced 77 young since 1991, with 71 banded as of this clutch of three male chicks.  The female is Loree, band number b/g 49/E.  She is a 2003 fledge from Monticello, MN.  She has been at this site since 2005.  There has been an unbanded male at this site since 2008.

The history of the Midwest Peregrine restoration project, as well as a searchable database for the public to look up individual birds, sites and state information, is here.  A recent Minnesota Daily article on the project is here. 

We want to thank the building staff at not only this site, but the other metro/urban locations.  The early and continued success of this project is ensured only through their support.

 

Dr. Ponder examines one of the peregrine chicks.