Donations Part 2, Falcon ID

Another week of incubation down and things are moving along well (fingers crossed).

As we are sitting around twiddling our thumbs I would like to take a moment to talk about the Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp. We often get questions of how people can support Ohio's wildlife. Since the ODNR, Division of Wildlife is primarily funded through the sale of hunting, fishing and trapping licenses, the obvious way would be to purchase one or more of these licenses but there are other ways as well. In the last blog post we talked about the Ohio tax check off option. Another way anyone (whether an Ohio resident or not) can contribute to Ohio's wildlife and projects like the peregrine falcon project is to purchase an Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp.

Buying an Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp allows wildlife enthusiasts the opportunity to directly impact the future of Ohio's native animals.  For $15 you'll receive a collectible stamp, window cling and commemorative card. 

Besides programs like the Columbus Falcon Cam, Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp proceeds support:

• wildlife and habitat research projects
• endangered & threatened native species habitat restoration, land purchases and conservation easements
• keeping common species common
• educational products for students and wildlife enthusiasts

The 2015 Stamp is of an eastern bluebird. Each year there is a photo contest to select the next years stamp. For more information on how to enter the contest please follow the photo contest link. If you would like to order the current Wildlife Legacy Stamp or a past stamp (consider collecting them all!) print and send the Official Mail Order Form or you can order Wildlife Legacy Stamps through the Wild Ohio Customer Center.

(Commercial break is over...back to the falcons.)

Time to review how to identify which falcon is sitting on the eggs. Remember in the raptor world, males are smaller than the females. Below is a side by side comparison of the male (Spark) and female (Durand) as they are incubating. In these photos you can see how much more body mass the female has than the male. The only other visual field mark that we have found to help tell Durand and Spark apart is a white area above Durand's beak that Spark does not have.