(by Chris Martin)

Another year, another four noisy state-threatened Peregrine Falcon chicks banded in Manchester! On Monday, May /24, I led a team of able assistants who to examine and band this year’s crop of falcon chicks from the nest at the Brady Sullivan Tower at 1750 Elm Street. If all four young survive the next few weeks, they will mark a total of 65 young fledged from this site in 21 productive breeding seasons in a row since 2001. Every single fledgling out of the 65 has been leg-banded, and so far we have received feedback on the whereabouts of 29 individual Manchester fledglings since the early 2000s.

Helping out with this year’s banding were Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, Michael Lemieux from Hebron, online falcon fan extraordinaire Colleen Smith, and local businesswoman Anne Pardo. Pardo has led a popular effort whereby 4^th graders annually suggest names for the falcon chicks based on NH-specific themes (e.g., covered bridges, rivers, towns).

This year our amazing friends at Peregrine Networks broadcast the banding event live via YouTube. Among those watching were two 5^th grade classes from Hooksett Memorial School, students who have been involved in a semester-long monitoring project supported by a grant to NH Audubon from the Dorr Foundation. We were also pleased to have building owner/real estate developer Arthur Sullivan join us for the morning, along with several other members of the Brady Sullivan team

Missed the live event? Watch the recording…and turn the volume down 🙂

Photos by Willa Coroka (from the top): Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig assisted NH Audubon biologist Chris Martin in banding one of the falcon chicks; Back in the nest box once again, one of the four young falcons appears to be pondering “what just happened” … or is she thinking “where’s lunch?”