Banding Day at the Brampton Courthouse a Huge Success!!
July 13, 2011 - Brampton - Courthouse
Tracy Simpson Reports:
This afternoon at the Brampton Courthouse we had a beautiful day for banding the one chick at this first time nest site. We all gathered outside on the sidewalk to watch the extraction of the single chick and the staff at the courthouse were all eagerly excited about becoming first time falcon parents. It was decided that the ledge would be accessed by lift truck and all was in position for the Skyreach lift operator and Mark Nash to make the ascent to the ledge. Once they reached ledge level, Milton the resident male, took to the air and set his sights on the extraction team. Truss was absent from our view and it wasn’t until Mark was able to see inside the ledge that he found Truss taking a nap and her single chick racing down the ledge to the north. Truss was immediately up, airborne and looking to run the extraction team out of town. With the chick now on the opposite end of the building, the lift was lowered, repositioned to the north and then raised up as the crowd of onlookers maintained their vigil. Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes of the OMNR began to suit up and prepare to help with the gathering up of the young falcon when Mark Nash was able to reach out and safely remove the young one and make ready to lower her down in the rescue bag. Once on the ground, Mark Heaton brought the chick around to the cafeteria in courthouse for the much anticipated banding ceremony. Marion Nash provided us with the opening remarks on the banding procedure and the CPF’s efforts in southern Ontario to band juvenile peregrines and then handed the microphone over to a very special guest, the Honorable Linda Jeffrey, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources. As a resident of Brampton, she was especially excited about the opportunity to have a Species at Risk successfully nesting at the courthouse; an excitement well evidenced in her speech to the crowd that had gathered.
The rest of the banding ceremony was focussed on just one other special lady and her name is Courtney. This female was a whopping 985 grams at weigh in and was easily identified as a female estimated to be 31 days of age. The Minister Linda Jeffrey held Courtney as her USFW band and her Canadian alpha-numeric band were attached and a strip of yellow electrical tape was fixed over top of the USFW band for easy identification in the field during the fledge watch period that begins next week. Before her return to the ledge and her parents, Courtney took a moment for a photo opportunity with Ed Czuchnicki of ORC Property and Land Management Services and Kevin Stanley of Skyreach who were both instrumental in making this banding day such an enormous success!!
Truly there are so many people to thank on a banding day that the gratitude list is always a long one but nonetheless a vastly important one!! If it were not for all of the folks that worked together with the CPF to make this day happen, Courtney, our newest peregrine juvenile in southern Ontario, would not have been banded and therefore left unprotected as a precious member of our Species at Risk. On behalf of all of us at the CPF, we would like to thank the Honorable Minister Linda Jeffreys, Mark Heaton and Emma Fellowes that represented the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources today. We also heartily thank the fantastic staff at the Brampton Courthouse that have embraced this new family of falcons. The folks here include staff of both the Provincial and Federal courts as well as Ed Czuchnicki, the Senior Facility Manager for ORC Property and Land Management Services and his exceptional staff. The banding would not have been possible today were it not for Aiden Houlahan and staff at United Rentals and Kevin Stanley and his crew from Skyreach Inc.; thank you all for making our access to the ledge possible. We also wish to graciously thank the Peel Regional Police staff members that were instrumental in securing the sidewalk where the lift truck was working and the cafeteria in which the banding ceremony was held. Thanks so much for your assistance in keeping all safe and secure. The staff and management of the cafeteria at the courthouse were outstanding hosts for the banding event itself and we thank you for opening up your doors to all of us. Last but not ever least, we extend a warm thank you to all of the CPF volunteers that attended today’s events from as far away as Burlington; the birth site of our dear Truss. A great day was had by all and it represents another success to celebrate; I love days like these!!
