Burlington Lift Bridge Banding a Huge Success
May 26, 2013 - Burlington - Lift Bridge
Tracy Simpson Reports:
On Tuesday May 22nd, four beautiful peregrine falcon chicks were banded and named at the Burlington Lift bridge nest site. The OMNR, the PWGSC lift bridge staff, CPF and the community gathered around Isabelle, Sarah, Hadfield and Lancaster to acknowledge the significance of their hatching at a banding ceremony and celebrate the important role that one or more of them will play in the continued recovery of their kind. After the pictures were taken, stories shared, hands shaken and chicks returned to their parents Cirrus and MacKensie our minds turned to the weeks ahead at the Burlington Lift Bridge when these youngsters come of age to fly for the very first time. This is a dangerous and precarious phase in the lives of these chicks as they teeter, bump and land badly for the first few days of testing their wings. This is where you come in.
The Burlington Lift Bridge Fledge Watch program needs you. The Fledge Watch is set to begin on May 31st as the oldest of these chicks reaches 37 days of age. The Fledge Watch will run each day from dawn to dusk until each juvenile successfully achieves the necessary flight skills to stay aloft. The first flights are clumsy and awkward and juveniles will occasionally find themselves coming to the ground and in an urban environment that can have serious life threatening consequences. Once grounded, these youngsters are unable to return to a safe elevation without the positive intervention of someone like you and left open to predation, collisions with vehicles and many other threats to their survival. We are in need of watchers for the Burlington Lift Bridge nest site and the best part is you don’t require any special experience or equipment. The Fledge Watch program is open to all who have the gift of time to spare for Isabelle, Sarah, Hadfield and Lancaster and who would like to support their success through this period. Please consider spending some time with us, whether it is for an hour, a few hours or a day, as this family really needs you. We would like to hear from any and all that can help out at raptor4@peregrine-foundation.ca as this Fledge Watch begins very soon.
Check back as more pictures of the Burlington Lift Bridge family will be posted soon.