Skye Gets a Transmitter!

Friday the 24^th of June was filled with excitement-- Not from flying fledglings, but rather from plans hastily made and executed, coordinating the movements of an international team of actors, some coming from hundreds of miles away, all for the benefit of one small falcon, which it is hoped, will carry on the rich legacy of her siblings. Skye had been cleared for release!

Through Kodak's environmental fund, the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation had recently obtained a satellite transmitter. They had been working with Kodak and the Genesee Valley Audubon Society on a plan to fit it to one of this year's eyases. That is, until June 13, when 2 of them unceremoniously fell out of the nestbox. Unwilling to risk endangering the 2 eyases in the playpen by going out to extract a falcon from the nestbox for a transmitter, we had resigned ourselves to waiting until 2006 for the opportunity. So Skye's recent misadventure and her subsequent recovery from a Kodak employee parking lot the following morning, actually rekindled our hopes of getting a transmitter on one of this year's falcons. Timing was an issue though, and time was very definitely against us. Birdcam manager and B.A.R.T. founder Cornpoppy worked the phones without surcease for two days. He tracked down the DEC's Mike Allen, and he was able to schedule Mark Nash of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation to arrive on Friday afternoon for the fitting. He also reserved a conference room-- more comfortable accommodations by far than we had for Hafoc's fitting-- and even ordered pizza for those of us who attended the event.

Unfortunately Mark was delayed at the Canadian-American border crossing due to road construction and weekend traffic, and he arrived three hours past his scheduled time. We had nearly decided simply to release Skye without fitting the transmitter when watchers out in the Kodak visitor parking lot radioed to let us know he'd arrived. Much cheering, applause and adoration greeted Mark on his arrival. He took a few minutes to recover from his long motorcycle ride in 90+ degree weather, and then he came up to the conference room. It was then that he let us know that Mike Allen would be performing the actual fitting, under Mark's tutelage. They got to work setting out the equipment for the fitting:
          

Then, Ellen Post of Wild Wings brought in Skye's carrier. Here she is with Mark:


They got right to work, with Mark guiding Mike through each step of the fitting process. Here, they've slipped a falconer's hood over Skye's head to keep her calm, and Mike is preparing to position the neoprene harness:


There were about a dozen spectators in the room, including many people Kodak.com and Kodak's marketing department. A very special guest was >Mary Ann Giglio, the executive assistant who in 1998 discovered that the nestbox installed on the Kodak tower was actually being used. Mary Ann has been a tireless advocate of the Birdcam, and in 2000 one of Mariah and Cabot-Sirocco's offspring was named in her honor. A photographer from the local newspaper also attended, and there were plenty of people recording the event with their cameras. Mark interspersed his instructions to Mike with plenty of anecdotes, which kept us entertained during the fitting:


While they're adjusting the fit of the harness, medical clamps called hemostats are used in lieu of stitches to hold the ends of the harness closed around the transmitter's mounting posts:


Fitting the harness correctly is all-important. It must be loose enough to allow total freedom of movement for the peregrine, but snug enough so that it won't interfere with flying or other activities. Only when both fitters were satisfied with the fit was the harness stitched closed. Here, Mike turns tailor, sewing the harness straps together with a curved suture needle and waxed dental floss:


Here's a look at Skye's lethal talons, the tools of her hunting trade:

Mark told us that by holding them to the rear, parallel with her tail, she was unable to use them to grasp at anything. This eliminated the possibility of injury to bystanders, fitters, or the falcon.

After they finished, Mike placed Skye on the back of a chair so that she could become acclimated to the new transmitter and harness.
     
Though the transmitter/harness combination weighs under 21 grams, or less than 5% of Skye's body mass, Mark feels it's a good idea to give the falcon time to adjust to it's new gear. By the time he and Mike were finished, several hours had elapsed. Those of us in attendance did our best to minimize any stress on Skye by using hushed voices and avoiding commotion where we could. For her part, Skye seemed to take it all in stride. She was active, but not agitated. She vocalized only once, but it was a good, healthy cry, expressing her displeasure at being inconvenienced. It was a good sign that she was healthy and ready to return to her siblings and parents.

Her release was done in darkness, and with little fanfare. She was returned to her carrier, taken up to the roof of Building 9 just south of the Kodak tower, and there the carrier was left with its door open. Mark tells us that night releases are often best after a fitting, because the falcon will naturally want to go to sleep rather than try flying right away. Indeed, this is what Skye did. Early the next morning, she joined her fellow fledglings up in the playpen, and since then she has shown herself to be a capable flyer, keeping up well with the rest of her family.

Skye follows her older brother Hafoc (though we can hope she will not share his tragic end) in the quest to learn more about the migratory behavior of urban raised falcons. In so doing, she will enrich us in many ways, and enhance not only our understanding, but most especially our appreciation, of one of nature's great marvels, the Peregrine.