The two Washington Mutual eyasses – a male and a female - were banded Tuesday, June 6. The young female was much more aggressive and vocal than her male sibling, which is what we have often seen in the past.
On its right leg, each now has an aluminum band with a number that identifies it in the Bird Banding Lab database. On its left leg, each has a black band with a white alpha numeric combination. This is called a VID (Visual Identification) band and can be read in the field with a spotting scope.
We speculated that the adult female might not be very aggressive, since this is her first year at the site. Wrong! She showed no hesitation in landing on the nest ledge and window washing stage and made valiant attempts to smack the banders. Those watching in the bank lobby could probably hear the loud thunk! when she hit the hard hat of the engineer running the stage. That’s why the engineer and banding team wear hard hats. As usual, the youngsters settled down quickly as soon as the stage was gone. For them, it was back to their routine of eating, sleeping, wing-flapping, preening and staring at the world beyond the ledge.
Stay tuned for additional updates.
