Mariah Dominates Another Banding Day

After thirteen years you'd think Mariah might be slowing down, especially when she's faced with an invading horde of banders intent on absconding with her offspring. You might think so, but you'd be wrong.

The 2008 Banding Day began for me at 7:30 this morning, when I arrived at Kodak to participate in a final review of our procedures for the day.

Signage? Check:
     

Banders and other team members ready to roll? Check:


Photogenic, enthusiastic frenetic school children? Check, check and triple-check:


We were a little behind our schedule by the time all of the guests got settled so we gathered the members of the banding team and the observer/decoys (that is, Baerbel, Tom Hoehn/Cornpoppy, Dennis Money and yours truly) and rocketed up nineteen floors courtesy of the Kodak tower elevators.

As it turned out, we decoys at the sign level had nothing to worry about. Cunning Mariah knew to concentrate her attacks on the folks at the nestbox level, leaving those of us at the KODAK sign level to watch in awed fascination:
     

     

As soon as DEC bander extraordinaire Mike Allen stepped around the corner Mariah dealt him a wicked blow upon his helmeted pate that resounded in the morning air. It was the first of several, as she went on the warpath. Kaver circled nearby, lending his angry kacking for moral support, but staying out of the fight:
     

Mariah had no such option, driven by thousands of years of instinct to defend her young:


At the end of each attack run she slowed a little and turned, giving us photographers time to line her up in our viewfinders:
     

Once I got lucky catching both of the angry Peregrines in my frame:


The action didn't go unnoticed on the ground, either. Gathered watchers took it all in all from the comfort of the recently erected Falcon Watching HQ:


Another run, another turn...
     

Mariah was unrelenting during the entire extraction, pressing the team at the nest box:
          



Under her withering assault, no one wanted to stay any longer than necessary. Mariah delivered one of her patented Fierce Looks® over her shoulder as we left:


Videographer Mike Champlin treated the school children to some of the footage he'd shot while we made our way into the lobby with the eyases. Then the banders got to work. First up was a "small" female, who received the name Seneca from the moderators of the Yahoo KFalconcam board:


Diamante, smallest of the eyases, gets his red tape from Mike while Barb Loucks cradles the little tiercel in her hands:


One new feature at this year's banding was a digital projector, which we used to display live images of the banding. It helped to give the kids a nice close look at what was going on at the banding table, courtesy of Mike Champlin's video camera:


From the smallest eyas they moved to the largest, named Quest by the students of the Quest Elementary school in nearby Hilton. Tom Hoehn got his Kodak DX7590 in for a close-up shot as Mike Allen fits her ID band:
     

Zephyr received the only wind-themed name this year. He's our second tiercel, seen here getting his leg measured by Mike:

It'll be great fun watching two males playing with their sisters. It's a sight we haven't seen since Grissom and Hafoc in 2004.

For the final eyas, Tom Hoehn assumed the role of Deputy Lieutenant Vice Bander (Junior Grade), assisting Mike as Susan B, our final female, gets her band:

It looks like she decided to see how humans taste in that shot, but Tom emerged unscathed. Or maybe she just preferred his bracelet to the ones she was getting.

As the banding progressed and word got out, the lobby began to fill with onlookers. These are just a few who showed up for a look at the day's event:


The eyases kept up a steady stream of crying for the most part, so we wasted no time once the banding was finished, in getting them back to their parents. Of course, Mariah didn't know we were there to return her nestlings, so as soon as we showed up she went right back on the offense. This time I joined the crew at the nest box, and quickly found myself the target of her strikes:


True to form, Kaver established a perimeter, an important job in any offensive operation:


My Canon 40D's smoking fast 6.5 frames-per-second burst rate, high-sensitivity autofocus and advanced DIGIC III processor came through, allowing me to get some great approach shots despite less-than-optimal light and overcast skies:
     

Eyas return took only a couple of minutes, and then we left Mariah and Kaver to tend to their family. Down in the lobby we took stock of the day. Brad Carney, it seemed, was the only casualty, having suffered a few scratches from Mariah while he was cleaning the cameras:


Other than Brad's wounds and a slight overrun on time, the event went very well. We had plenty of excitement and activity to keep us busy. After eleven years you might expect Banding Day to get dull, or at least to become routine. You might think so, but you'd be wrong.

Snow Dogs in Perinton

Winter's final blast last week turned the fields near our house into a frozen fantasy land for Tessa and Quest. Here's the two of them lounging on the deck:


On Sunday the sky was clear and bright, and I was itching to give my new Tamron 28-75mm zoom lens a workout, so Dawn and I took the dogs out for some playtime. Quest made the most of the opportunity, and jumped through the snow with abandon:


Powerful wind gusts whipped up the snow, sometimes into big vorticies that slid across the field, but the dogs didn't seem to mind:
     

At twelve, Tessa's not as spry as she used to be, but she did a good job keeping up with Quest:


She certainly looked like she enjoyed her winter romp, as that Malamute smile attests:


The temperatures are rising and spring has just arrived, so barring some unforeseen arctic storm, I think we've seen the last significant snow for the year. It's always fun to watch the dogs cavort in the snow. With Tessa's advancing years I don't know how many more winters she'll be able to enjoy, so it was a real treat to have the opportunity to shoot her having fun in something close to her natural environment.

I'm well pleased with the performance of my newest lens. The Tamron focuses fast, and its sharpness and contrast are on par with much more expensive lenses. Its constant f/2.8 aperture makes it a fast lens-- great for indoor shots or low-light situations. It looks like it would make an ideal "walkaround" lens for taking candid people shots and for general photojournalism work. On a cropped-sensor camera like the 20D it loses the wide end, but I have Tamron's 17-35mm zoom to cover that. Add their standard five year warranty to its reasonable price (the equivalent Canon lens costs 3-4 times more, and carries only a 1 year warranty), and the Tamron becomes an unbeatable bargain.