by Ben Wurst / Senior Wildlife Biologist
There aren’t many times when you get to climb to the roof of a courthouse in a major metropolitan area. Except if you’re a raptor biologist! We recently joined NJ Fish & Wildlife’s Chief of the Endangered and Nongame Species Program, Kathy Clark and Union County staff and guests to band the four young falcons produced at a nest atop the Union County Courthouse, home to the Union County Falcon Cam.
For banding, the nestlings were all brought inside the building to reduce disturbance to the adults and so that we could be in a controlled environment. Falcon young can be sexed at the time of banding and all young produced here were males. This is a stark contrast to the last couple years when all were female!
To sex, their upper mandible/bill length is measured. This is to ensure the correct size band is used on the bird. Males are smaller, so their upper bills are smaller (up to 18mm) and they get a smaller band (size 6 – females get a size 7). This is a little more tricky when you have young that are all the same sex! It makes even the experienced bander double and triple check their measurements to be sure they are accurate and using the correct size band. You basically don’t want to put a male band on a female or it would be too tight on their leg.
Their aux. bands are: BH/92, BH/93, BH/94 & BH/95.1 Now they’re venturing around the roof ledges and make it harder to keep track of them. Later this week they could start to make their first flights, which is when they’re around 6-7 weeks old. If you live in the area and want to volunteer to watch this nest from the ground, we could use your help. Once these young fledge, they can often land on the ground. Having a volunteer on fledge watch really helps ensure their safety! Please reach out to Ben Wurst if you’re interested.
> Read more about this in a press release from Union County
> Watch the Union County Falcon Cam
- All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s BBL. ↩︎