STICKY: Peregrine Sightings and Leg Bands
IMPORTANT: If you see or photograph a peregrine with bands on its legs, please write to me at sware@fieldmuseum.org. If you are in another state, I can make sure that the sighting is reported to the monitors for that state, so feel free to send the info to me. Birds banded in the Midwestern US receive black over red or black over green bands, as you see below (click on the pictures for larger versions). We have birds from Midwestern Canada come through fairly regularly with black over black bands. You will notice that both legs are banded. The band on the right leg is a US Fish and Wildlife band, usually purple or silver. This band generally cannot be read unless you are very close to the bird or have it in hand. The bands on the right are designed to be read from farther away. Any information about bands is relevant to us – even if all you can say is “I saw a banded peregrine on April 10, 2012 at the corner of State and Maine in Detroit, MI.” Try to answer as many of the following questions as possible:
- Date and location of sighting, as precise as possible.
- Was the peregrine banded or unbanded?
- What were the colors of the bands?
- Could you read the letters or numbers on either the top or the bottom band? If so, what were those letters or numbers?
- Were either the letters or numbers sideways? (see Zoom’s bands below on the far left: black over red, sideways 4 over H)
Chicago Peregrine Falcon Blog 