From an article in the Eagle Tribune Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015
LAWRENCE — An injured Peregrine falcon was set free this week after being taken care of by Lawrence police. On Tuesday, a Coolidge Street woman called police saying she’d found a falcon that appeared to be hurt. Animal Control Officer Ellen Bistany Mastorakis tapped Det. David Augusta, a licensed falconer, for his help. The falcon appeared to have a scrape on one of its digits, so Mastorakis and Augusta together stretched a nylon over the bird. The nylon created a straight-jacket of sorts on the falcon, so Augusta could get a good a good look at her talons. “Which are like knives. So is the beak,” Mastorakis said.
The two took the falcon back to the pound. They found a band on one of it’s legs with a number. A call to the state revealed this falcon was banded while nesting in the city’s Ayer Mill Clock Tower in 2003. “They figured she was two years old at the time. So that makes her 14,” Mastorakis said. The falcon’s wings were fine. So Wednesday afternoon, Augusta expertly set the falcon free again. Based on her history, however, it doesn’t sound like she’ll go far.
Article by: By Jill Harmacinski
Photo by Paul Bilodeau: Lawrence Police Det. Dave Augusta lets a female Peregrine falcon go after it was found in an alley in Lawrence. Augusta fed the falcon and released it a day later, making sure it was not hurt.
The new female peregrine has been making visits to some of the regular perch locations around the Clock Tower. This morning she was seen hanging on the short black iron beam just below the roof line on the south side of 200 Merrimack Street. This has been a very regular perch location this time of year. It provides a nice spot out of the wind and in the morning sun. She is seen here scratching her head and showing no leg band!
