Tom Seegar produces
Fifty-two peregrines were captured in April and all were blood sampled. Three of those individuals had been initially banded during last autumn’s survey. Equipment breakdowns delayed the survey’s start, and previous rains had left the flats soft but navigable except for a few treacherous spots. Falcons were mostly unresponsive for the first few days, at which point nighttime thunderstorms curtailed access to the study area April 13-16. After that the wind tidal flats north of Deer Island could only be accessed via beach travel due to standing water to the south. Periodic nighttime rains kept the flats soft, but large numbers of responsive birds showed during the final week. Days lost due to equipment, wet flats and wind resulted in our expending >50 man-hours fewer than in spring 2014, but we were able to capture essentially the same number of falcons.