England / Bath - St John's Church - 2015 / AA & unnamed

[The Peregrine Chick]

Thanks Allison ... yet one more thing to add to my research pile this winter 
I really want to take a look at these one-size-fits-all leg bands they seem to use.

[Alison]

The chicks, two females and one male, were banded with blue bands as follows:

JX = female
JY = female
JZ = male

All three fledged successfully. The first to fledge was actually one of the females, JX.

I was surprised to learn that in Britain the same size bands are used for male and female peregrines.

Although for some species different sizes of rings are recommended for male and female, both male and female peregrines are ringed using size ‘G’ BTO metal rings, which are numbered individually, and sequentially. There is no difference in the code sequence, but when the ringer records the fitting of a particular ring to a particular bird, the biometric data for that bird and its sex are submitted to the BTO against the ring number. Colour rings are sized in a similar way to metal rings, and their dimensions are closely controlled by the BTO. As with metal rings, there is no difference in size or sequence for male and female peregrines. Since 2007 Ed Drewitt has been colour-ringing Peregrine chicks with the help of the British Mountaineering Council and the Hawk and Owl Trust. This is to help discover more about peregrines’ movements, survival and interactions in the Bristol and Somerset region. The breeding tiercel at Bath was the first bird to be colour ringed (AA) under this project.

[Alison]

The Bath pair have three chicks and one unhatched egg in the nest.

[Alison]

Last year, they raised one chick, HG. She fell from the nest when she was just 33 days old. People searched for her, and found her two days later. She had survived, and was on a reasonably safe perch looking down at them. She went on to do well, and was seen in the Bath area for some time.

This year, the front of the nest was raised a very little, but I still consider it an unsafe nest. It also provides almost no protection from wind, rain or snow.

[Alison]

The resident male at this nest is banded AA, and he is known as AA.

The resident female is unbanded.

They are currently incubating four eggs; the eggs were laid somewhat later than the eggs at Norwich, so they are not yet due to hatch.

One of the 2013 juvies from this nest, GA, is the one who showed up at the Norwich site last week. She has now been seen there again.

This is AA:

 

This is Mom:

 

[Alison]

This nest is located at St John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Bath, England.



http://upp.hawkandowl.org/bath-peregrines/bath-st-johns-church-peregrine-live-web-cam-2015/