Miss Fran Spotted on Migration in Indiana!!
August 29, 2013 - Kitchener - CTV-Bell Media Tower
Tracy Simpson Reports:
Marty Jones, a birdwatcher in Indiana, posted this story about a juvenile peregrine that was passing through her area. It turns out that the juvenile is Miss Fran from the Kitchener CTV tower nest on her way south!! Her is what Marty wrote;
“I thought I’d share an interesting story about this juvenile peregrine falcon I photographed last week on August 24th at Goose Pond in Greene County, Indiana. The falcon had legs bands on both legs. The right leg band was all yellow and the all black left leg band read S over 29. With the band information, John Castrale, Non-game Bird Specialist with IDNR was able to help track down the origin of the falcon. It was found that when only 23 days old the bird was banded on May 30, 2013 at Kitchener Ontario (about 30 miles west of Toronto). The bird was determined to be a female and weighed just 866 grams on May 30th and she was one of three chicks in the nest. I calculated that this peregrine falcon flew approximately 552 miles and was only 106 days old when I photographed it on August 21st”
It shows how important the act of banding these juveniles is as we now have not only a resighting of Miss Fran on migration but we also know how far she has travelled, the route that she is taking and so much more. The bands will also readily identify her as part of a recovery program and protect her as she travels. Way to go Miss Fran and thank you to Marty Jones for this awesome story!!!