Merlins are one of my absolute favorite birds, and all three subspecies are equally incredible. Sometimes I’ve only witnessed them as bolts of light, jetting past with an audible whooosh of beating wings. Close encounters with these fierce little falcons are always the best!
This original Giclee print is for sale at the OrnithologiArt Shop, sans frame. 5×7″, 8×10″ and custom orders available.
Hatch year (left) and adult (right) Sharp-shinned Hawks, Accipiter striatus
What a difference a year makes!
I gave my Turkey Vulture warts, for a reason. As I’ve stated in previous posts, I’ve began pursuing a degree in Raptor Biology at Boise State University, under the direction of David Anderson at the Peregrine Fund, and Marc Bechard, who has been with BSU since the 1980’s. Dr. Anderson is a great man himself, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to tell about him later, but for this post, I’d like to mention some things about Dr. Bechard.
Last week Dr. Bechard accompanied me and a few of my peers, along with Greg Kaltenecker of Idaho Bird Observatory to attempt to capture migrating Turkey Vultures. Ultimately we failed, but I feel like I learned some things about Dr. Bechard and his interest with Cathartes aura, commonly called the Turkey Vulture. While trapping hawks in the blind at Lucky Peak, I picked his brain for insights into the life histories of the Turkey Vulture. He told me many things, but one aspect that stuck was his discussion of the subspecies of the Turkey Vulture, their regional distribution, and their migratory habits.
We in the west see what is called subspecies meridionalis, which is the subspecies I’ve illustrated above. Those in the east see septentrionalis. In Arizona, you find the nominate aura at its northern extent. These three sub groups comprise the Turkey Vultures found in North America. Of course in S. America, there are others. It is not often that you find a man who specializes on vultures. I find myself lucky to be working under such a man. At the moment, he is in Gambia, trapping Hooded Vultures with Keith Bildstein of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Lucky him, as he is off chasing exotic vultures while I teach his classes. I’m perfectly fine filling in while he’s gone, so long as he teaches me all that he knows!
Juvenile “Western” Turkey Vulture- Cathartes aura meridionalis
Above is a photo of an immature light morph Swainson’s Hawk that I took on the 7th of September, 2013 at the Goshutes Raptor Migration Sight in eastern Nevada. Notice the red band on the birds left leg. I’ve cropped the image a great deal, but below I’ve enlarged the section of the image to show the band in greater detail. At this resolution, the image becomes pixelated, which is unfortunate.
I contacted the BBL in hopes of tracking down someone that might recognize the band. I am so very grateful for their organization, as they quickly sent out emails asking those they have permitted for color banding SWHA. Within a day or two, I had a hit.
A man name Chris Briggs contacted me and gave his firm assurance that this bird was a bird he had banded earlier this year as a nestling. He mentioned his use of special characters such as the obvious < symbol on this birds color band. He thought that the other character on the right was either an 8 or a 9. One cannot be too certain, but he did assure me that the band was certainly his.
As the birds age was apparent from its plumage, I was really interested in where the bird originated. Chris informed me that this bird was banded as a nestling near Macdoel, California, a town near the northern border just south of Klamath Falls, OR. He sent me the photo below.
Photo courtesy of Chris Vennum
How exciting! It is nearly certain that this bird is the same bird as the bird I photographed in Nevada. I am so thankful that the organization exists such that a photographer can capture a photo of a bird with a band, and if the band is legible, can track that very same bird to the place that it was banded, without ever trapping the bird. The invasiveness of trapping hawks is curbed with the advent of the camera! Revolutionary….
Well, my question is then why are we as raptor researchers, or ornithologists as a whole not employing this technique more often? Some may state the added detriment of more bands is not worth while, and I do not discount this contention. However, how much more detrimental will one color band be to an already banded raptor? It is a discussion worth having, because with the amount of folks armed with cameras today, we could find ourselves with a lot more re-sight records, and a better understanding of spatial ecology in particular species.
I’d like to include another recent instance for emphasis. A few months ago, my friend and obscenely talented photographer Ron Dudley photographed a young Prairie Falcon in Montana. It happened to have a color band, and he was able to track down where the bird was banded. As it happened, his bird was also from California. You can read the story in detail on his blog.
How peculiar, this bird that fledged from its nest, and for whatever reason did not disperse directly south, but in a somewhat north east direction. North east enough that it passed by the Goshutes in early September on its way south. In my own personal study, I’ve learned that this non southward directionality of post fledging dispersal is something many people tracking birds of prey are seeing. The old north to south paradigm is becoming a bit more complicated than initially thought, and young birds seen traveling south on their fall migration, aren’t necessarily birds fledged from the north.
ornithologi.com 