On Thursday, 4 June, we banded the two eyass peregrines at the Washington Mutual Tower in downtown Seattle.
The adult female allowed us to approach to within approximately 5 feet of the nest box before she flew, indicating that she is both quite tame and used to the window washing stage.
She is a large peregrine with a very white breast, isolated malar stripe, Peale's peregrine type head, and some limited black streaking in the bib.
As we progressed with the banding of her young, she became protective, of course, but did not really approach too closely and none of us were hit. Next year, I suspect this will be different as they usually become more aggresssive over time.
The female eyass was one of the largest young peregrines that I have banded and was unusually aggressive. She liked to bite and foot me alot. We enjoy seeing this behavior as it indicates she has alot of "fire" in her.
Like her mother, she is big. So she took the largest sized band that we use for peregrines, a USFWS size 7B. Most females are supposed to take a size smaller (7A).
We have been seeing an increase in band size among nestling peregrines for several years now in the San Juan Islands and she is following this trend.
Which brings us to the other bird. This one took a size 7A, normally a female band. But, because of the large size of his sibling, we suspect that the second eyass could actually be an extra large male. They normally take a size 6 band. The only way we can positively tell the true sex would have been to have taken a DNA sample which we did not do.
Each bird also recieved a black VID (visual identification) band. These special bands have a large engraved combination of letters/numbers that can be easily read with a scope or if a bird happens to land outside your window.
The female wears VID band code vertical A over vertical 47. In simpler terms, look for an A over the number 47 on her band.
The second falcon carries the band A over 48.
If you happen to see a falcon with such a band, please write down the letters/numbers and their positions and let us know.
The all important addled egg had been rolled off of the nest box just prior to our visit and had been broken in the short fall to the stone floor. The contents had leaked out and "glued" the egg to the ledge but we were able to retrieve it and will submit it to WSDFW for their archives. Although not suitable for contaminant analysis, it is still valuable for shell thickness measurements.
Thanks to Mario, Frank, Denise and all the wonderful people at Wright-Runstad for making this happen.
