On October 21st, a
pink-headed Peregrine Falcon flew over the hawkwatch platform. This
was not an exotic species or some sort of plumage anomaly. The
feathers on the juvenile Peregrine Falcon's head had been
purposefully dyed red. We had been watching for pink-headed Peregrines at the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch because we knew that Peregrine
Falcon research was being conducted to the north of us on Assateague
Island. The pink-headed Peregrine seen at Kiptopeke likely traveled
from Assateague Island. Anna was able to get a picture of the bird
as it flew over the platform.
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| A juvenile Peregrine Falcon with feathers on its head appearing pink after the feathers were dyed red by researchers. Photo by Anna Stunkel. |
You may be wondering why anyone would
be dying the feathers on a Peregrine Falcon's head red. In the
research conducted on Assateague Island, data on migrating Peregrine
Falcons are collected when the birds are captured. The Peregrine
Falcons are banded, and the feathers on their heads are marked with
red dye before the birds are released. The dye does not harm the
birds, and it fades away over several weeks. This marking allows
researchers to identify birds from which they have already collected
data, and the researchers will not try to capture those Peregrine
Falcons again.
On the same day as the pink-headed Peregrine, we had two more very exciting birds show up at the
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch. A light morph and a dark morph Rough-legged
Hawk were spotted together in the same thermal. The two juvenile
birds remained in the distance and never passed over the hawkwatch
platform, so we were not able to get any pictures of them. However,
a picture of the light morph Rough-legged Hawk that passed over the
Kiptopeke Hawkwatch earlier this season is included in the previous
blog post, and Anna has provided a picture of a dark morph
Rough-legged Hawk she took while working at the Derby Hill Hawkwatch.
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| A dark morph Rough-legged Hawk seen at the Derby Hill Hawkwatch during a previous season. Photo by Anna Stunkel. |
-Katie
