May 29th Banding Day at Oshawa Lakeridge Health Oshawa Hospital
May 29, 2023 - Oshawa - Lakeridge Hospital
Marion Nash Reports:
Another site with 2 chicks this time one boy and one girl.
Don Barron form the hospital met us at the main entrance and explained that along with Mark Nash who explained the banding procedure and importance of banding and was also the person who stayed out on the ledge at the nest box to distract the adults, Mark Heaton and Eva Boback our banders, Glenn Barrett and Kyna Dawn from Environment and Climate Change Canada who were doing blood testing on the chicks as part of a 5 year study of environmental toxins, Don and myself there would also 3 people recording, filming and taking photos and because it is a very small area the hospital ran a contest allowing only 2 winners to attend the banding and the lucky winners were Tia and Laurie. I brought with me 4 more people who have been assisting the foundation to monitor the falcon family and who wish to become fledge watchers keeping an eye on the chicks when they take their first flights and rescuing them should they come to ground.
We were spread out enough that we could work without any problems and the chicks were not overwhelmed. All went very well and everyone who attended were able to got some photos. We decided in order to protect hospital staff and patients this year we not have anyone hold the chicks at the end of the banding for a photo shoot due to Avian Flu but doing a selfie with the chicks in the photo would be ok.
I want to thank Don Barron and Lakeridge Health for their ongoing support of Oshawa`s only Peregrine falcon family and for giving us access to band the chicks, place a nest box on the ledge for the falcons and install a camera in the box to better monitor the falcons. Their tremendous support has made a big difference in the survival of these falcons and management of this nest site.
Here is the band information of the Oshawa chicks along with photos taken by myself of the chicks at banding and Mark Nash of the chicks and adult female out at the nest.
There are no names of the chicks listed her because the hospital is running a name the chicks contest with the staff so stay tuned for the names.
Each chick got 2 bands one on each leg. The first a Black alpha numeric Canadian Recovery band and the second a USA fish and wildlife band.
First chick weighed 500 grams was a male his band number is C over 41 and he has Yellow tape on his silver band.
The second chick weighed 790 grams a female, her band number is 26 over AB and she had Red tape on her silver band.
The Colored tape helps the fledge watchers identify the chicks form a distance.
