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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2017)
Wednesday, February 15, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Tales from a Sisters Naturalist by Jim Anderson Watching for tagged raptors The photo accompany- ing this column was taken near Sawyer Park in Bend. The tags made the hawk (a juvenile red-tail) stand out like a sore thumb, even to someone who really isn’t interested in birds. It caught the eye of bird pho- tographer Chas Savage. He knew it was important for him to capture an image of it. Afterwards, he went to the Banding Lab website, reported his sighting and discovered it was tagged at the Portland Airport just a couple of weeks earlier. At last report, the hawk was still hanging around, keeping an eye out for rodents and rabbits in Bend. Airliners occasionally run into a bird, and visa- versa. The incredible story of the collision between geese and an airliner, now made into a popular movie, “Sully,” is an example. The film is about Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, an American Airlines retired airline captain and glider pilot, hailed as a national hero when he successfully executed an emergency landing in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. His aircraft was disabled when it struck a flock of Canada geese (or the other way around) during climb-out from La Guardia International Airport in New York. All 155 people aboard the aircraft survived with no personal injuries because Need A Barber? Call Jeff Today! The T he H Hair a i r C Cache a c h e Jeff, Theresa, Ann, Jamie, Shiela, Terri 152 E. Main Avenue / 541-549-8771 Captain Sullenburger imme- diately understood he had no power and was in a glider. He pushed the nose down to keep up airspeed and took the only action open to him — a water landing in the Hudson River. Aircraft and birds have been running into each other for just about as many years as both have been shar- ing airspace. The Wright Brothers’ first aircraft just missed shorebirds over the sand hills of North Carolina. Special workers at the Reno Air Races today do all they can to keep birds away from Reno/Stead Airport before, during, and after the air races. That particular red- tail was tagged at the Portland Airport by a col- league of mine, Carole Hallett. Carole’s a wild- life biologist who’s part of the team in the Port of Portland Wildlife Hazard Management Program who have the responsibility of doing everything they can to prevent collisions between aircraft and wildlife. Like falconers of old, who trapped the bird of prey they wanted to train into the art of falconry, Carole cap- tures them with live bait (usually mice). In my opin- ion, and probably Carole’s as well, there aren’t enough adjectives in the English language to describe what a wild-caught raptor is like to handle — and what one can do to someone who is careless. Patagial markers are attached (carefully) to the leading edge of the raptor’s wing, between the elbow and shoulder. That loca- tion makes the tag visible whether the bird is flying or perched, and will be sighted quicker than one with just the aluminum band on the leg. On ce t h e rap t o r i s equipped with the band and tags it is taken at least 40 miles from the airport and released in areas where there are no other hazards. The biologists take into consid- eration weather conditions when they release the birds. In summer and fall the birds are released on the east side of the airport, while in win- ter they are released west of the airport. Hallett has captured, banded and released over 2,500 birds — mostly red- tails and American kestrels — since she began working with the airport in October of 1999. “It’s primarily a safety issue; reducing the inci- dence of raptor collisions with airplanes (bird strikes), and incidentally benefiting the birds by moving them out of a potentially hazard- ous environment,” she said of her work. HIT A POTHOLE? WE CAN HELP! PHOTO BY CHAS SAVAGE Adult red-tailed hawk wearing orange wing tags. She has had recoveries of banded and tagged raptors from as far away as Mexico and Canada, and in the USA from Montana, Oregon, Washington and California. The majority of U.S. sight- ings are from western Oregon. Once Carole started using orange wing (pata- gial) tags she began getting more reports of live birds. When using just leg bands, 90 percent of reports were of birds found dead, usually hit by car, occasionally elec- trocuted, shot or dead from starvation or poisoning. The tags give her a much better idea of where the birds go after release, and also makes it easier to iden- tify any that return to PDX. Knowing who returns helps the hazard-management crew to evaluate which release sites are working and which are not. The really good news is, 75 percent of red-tails never return, and the majority that do only stay a short while before moving on. In addition to reported sightings of tagged birds, the USGS Bird Banding Lab in Patuxent, Maryland keeps tabs on all her banded birds. People who see a banded or tagged bird can report it to the Bird Banding Lab at www.reportband.gov. Expert Alignments, Shocks, Struts, Wheels, Tires DAVIS TIRE 21 541-549-1026 Serving Sisters Since 1962 188 W. 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