The Department of Environmental Protection and the Game Commission will hold their annual Peregrine Falcon banding event on May 24 and will webcast the event live from the Harrisburg Falcon webpage.

The event will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on May 24, in the Rachel Carson State Office Building’s auditorium in Harrisburg.

Although not a public event, DEP is inviting midstate teachers, non-formal educators and students to attend where biologists will weigh and band the newly hatched nestlings, called eyases.

When the falcon eggs hatch, the young falcons will “pip” through their shells, after which the female will eat the shells to clean the nest and regain calcium. On May 24, biologists will retrieve the young peregrines from the nest located on the 15th Floor of the Rachel Carson State Office Building.

Students and teachers will witness the biologists placing an alphanumeric metal band around the left leg each of the eyases’ with a falcon-specific code. The band code will be used by wildlife officials to monitor the birds once they leave the nest. In addition, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife band will be placed on the eyases’ right leg registering each on a federal banding database.

This banding is a unique opportunity for teachers and students to witness firsthand wildlife management techniques to reintroduce and monitor endangered species in the Commonwealth.

To register for Peregrine Falcon banding event, mid-state educators should contact DEP’s Environmental Education and Information Center at 717-772-1644 or send email to adevine@state.pa.us by May 17.

Space is limited, so registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-service basis.

For more information, visit the Harrisburg Falcon webpage.

4/21/2006