Extra Post: Wednesday's Kestrel Banding

Here is a photo from Wednesday's American Kestrel banding at Duke Farms.

Bill Pitts and MacKenzie Hall of the state Endangered and Nongame Species Program  removed two nearly grown chicks from a nest box not far from Farm Barn Lane,  then weighed, measured and banded them. The two nestlings -- a male and a female (just like the eaglets) -- were then returned promptly to their nest. The male, above, posed for a moment for a close-up.  The new Duke Farms summer conservation interns were able to watch the banding and learn about American Kestrels, a threatened species in New Jersey and the other at-risk raptors that nest at Duke Farms.

Jim Wright writes The Bird Watcher columnist for The Record and the Herald-News. He is the author of four coffee-table books about wild places, and the deputy marsh warden of the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, N.J.