Birds of a feather banded together
Nestling beneath the Quinapoxet bridge on I-190, there are four raven chicks that probably agree with you.
In their case, however, the government really was there to help.
During the last week in April, Bridgett McAlice, a wildlife biologist with the Central Mass. Wildlife District of the Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, hooked a harness to the I-190 overpass and was lowered in the bucket of a truck to band the young ravens for state and federal government tracking purposes. She managed this acrobatic feat at 110-feet above the Quinapoxet River with help from the state Department of Transportation’s bridge inspection truck.
As cars and trucks rumbled overhead, McAlice netted the raven babies to attach the metal bands to their legs. At six to seven weeks old, the chicks did not have all their mature flying feathers, so attaching the numbered bands was an easy task. Mike Morelly, also a wildlife biologist with Central Mass. Wildlife, assisted McAlice.
“The parents aren’t aggressive, so it was pretty easy,” McAlice said.
The numbered bands are like Social Security numbers for birds, Bill Davis, Wildlife District supervisor, pointed out. With a fourdigit prefix, followed by a unique five-digit number, the bands allow for easier tracking in the field.
“We use an 80 power astronomical telescope and can read the tags from about 30 yards away,” he said.
MassWildlife bands hundred of geese, many waterfowl and a dozen or so bald eagles and falcons each year.
Tracking the ravens is something new. The birds are a recent nesting species in the state. The wildlife biologists hope the Quinapoxet bridge chicks will further shed light on their dispersal, habitat preferences, survival and seasonal movements.
As she was banding the ravens, McAlice was also administering a government avian housing program, setting out a nesting tray, hoping to attract a pair of peregrine falcons.
The lofty height of Quinapoxet bridge and its proximity to Wachusett Reservoir makes it an ideal home for falcons.
“Falcons don’t build nests. They normally call rock ledges or exposed cliff sides home. However, there are not too many of those in Massachusetts, so balconies and window ledges are often targeted. We hope this preemptive nest will encourage a pair of peregrine falcons to make this bridge home, ” McAlice said.
Falcons are notoriously picky homesteaders, so the nesting tray is built to their specifications: a shallow box filled with pea stone with holes for proper drainage. Falcons have a history of successful repatriation since the 1980s.