June 15th Banding Day at Bloor Islington Place
June 16, 2023 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Marion Nash Reports:
Thanks to Colliers building management and Sky Reach window washing who have been working with us since 1997 we were again able to extract the chicks and host the 26th annual banding of the Peregrine Chicks at Bloor Islington Place.
We were concerned about thunder storms predicted for the afternoon but luckily John Beals our climber and the guys from Skyreach got the chicks down to us and back on the ledge before the rain.
We had a good turnout of people who came to see their newest additions to the Peregrine family at Bloor Islington Place. There were 3 chick 2 boys and 1 girl. Bloor Islington Place staff ran a name the chicks contest and I had the honor of drawing the names from a bowl for each chick. The 2 boys were named Casey and Andre and the girl was named Angel, congratulations and thanks goes out to those who submitted their names. May they all fly well and stay high, our fledge watch team will do our absolute best to ensure they all survive their first flights which will begin in about 10 days.
Mark Nash from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation spoke to the visitors and explained the banding process and why banding is still very important to help us monitor this important species.
Once again Mark Heaton, Eva Bobak and Glenn Anderson volunteered to band the chicks, without them your banding could not have happened.
Here is the banding information. We put colored tape on the silver US band to help the fledge watchers identify each chick from a distance while we keep watch over them.
First- 585 grams male 21 days old band number C over 46 named Casey with Yellow tape
Second- 765 grams female 21 days old band number 20 Over AB named Angel Green tape
third- 650 grams male 22 days old band number C over 47 named Andre Red tape
Each chick was very healthy and alert.
Environment and climate Change Canada was also on site to take small blood samples from each chick as part of a 5 year study on environmental toxins as the peregrine being on the top of the food chain is one of our best avian environmental monitor species like the canary in the coal mine they are our first warning of harmful toxins.
