Saturday, April 10, 2021

Solving a minor problem

Official USFWS cable tie band at left, commercial band at right


My Harris's Hawk Farrah was banded when I got her. The band was installed without its clear protective tube; soon it was unreadable. I cut it off, sent it to authorities, and they sent me another with a different official number. Changing numbers bugged me a little. With a Harris's, it means the Baywing database has to be updated to be accurate. Even installed correctly, in a year or so, the legibility starts to degrade, which defeats the purpose of the band. 

You can solve this problem legally without changing numbers. Buy an aluminum split band, with the same information engraved and install it on the hawk's other leg. Don't remove the original official band; if you do, legally you must notify the authorities and they will send you a new band with new number. 


Federal Regulation excerpts:

(i) If you take a goshawk, Harris's hawk ( Parabuteo unicinctus ), peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrinus ), or gyrfalcon ( Falco rusticolus ) from the wild or acquire one from another falconer or a rehabilitator, and if the raptor is not already banded, you must band it with a permanent, nonreusable, numbered U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leg band that your State, tribal, or territorial agency will supply.

(iii) If the band must be removed or is lost from a raptor in your possession, you must report the loss of the band within 5 days, and you must then do at least one of the following:

(A) Request a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nonreusable band from your State, tribal, or territorial agency that regulates falconry.

(iv) You must not alter, deface, or counterfeit a band.

The link below directs to my source for the new band. There may be a domestic vendor too. The ring only cost me $15 delivered.

https://www.avianid.co.uk/



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