Wacker Banding
Two females, two males.
I am really rooting for Wacker this year after the tragic loss of Rahn just after the chicks hatched. All five chicks hatched and, sadly, one was lost early. Today, Matt, Mary and I met with the Wacker building folks to band the chicks. This would be a very good opportunity to see how healthy they looked, so we were eager.
Curtis, the lone adult male, valiantly defended the ledge when Mary went out to get the chicks. This was good to see. One of the first things we noticed is that all four chicks had very full crops. This meant that they were being fed. They also made a lot of good, healthy noise and were squirmy. All good signs.
The guys in the building named the four chicks after their kids, so we have Jude and Liam, our two males and Blayke and Parker, our two females.
The next hurdle is fledging. I wish these four well. Curtis is a three-year old strapping male, so I’m hoping he finds a mate next year. He currently holds the oldest and one of the best territories, so I don’t think he’ll have a hard time attracting a mate.
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