The three peregrine falcon chicks that hatched in Brandon on June 5th were banded live June 28 at noon on the CBC Manitoba Falcon Cam at www.cbc.ca/manitoba/features/falcon/.
Although it is a difficult task to temporarily remove the falcon chicks from the nestbox and their parents, experts say it is essential to band them as a way to continue to track this endangered species.
"By putting leg bands on the chicks, we, and other projects like ours, are able to identify individual birds, where they came from, where they have been and how old they are," explains Tracy Maconachie of the Falcon Recovery Project.
"This is important because understanding where peregrines travel and settle to nest is information we need to in order to support and protect them. With this information, the peregrine falcon will one day no longer be a species at risk in Manitoba and in Canada."
Not to worry about pulling the chicks from the nest however, the chicks will be readily accepted back into the nest by Hurricane and Brooklyn and upon their return because birds, unlike other wild animals, do not detect human strangers on their young.
About the CBC Manitoba Falcon Cam and the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project
Since 1989, a pair of endangered peregrine falcons has been nesting on the Radisson Hotel in downtown Winnipeg. Beginning 2006, CBC Manitoba and the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project (Manitoba) have collaborated to provide Manitobans with the opportunity to observe each year's family of peregrines on the CBC Falcon Cam. In 2011, a second CBC Falcon cam was introduced to follow a second pair of nesting birds in Brandon at the McKenzie Seeds building.
Find out more about Manitoba's peregrine falcons on the Peregrine Chick Blog page and join the discussion, add comments and ask questions on the Falcon Forum, or post comments right to the CBC Falcon Cam page. Log on to www.cbc.ca/manitoba/features/falcon/ from now until mid July to watch our live CBC Falcon Cam from the downtown Winnipeg nest or the Brandon nest and watch the baby falcons until the day they fly the coop.