Members of Fort Jackson's environmental team went to Weston Lake May 16 to band nine-day-old
endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers with aluminum and colored bands.
The team consists of members Nicole Hawkins, Hutch Collins and Travis Dodson. The bands they
used identified each bird's year of birth and cluster it belongs to.
To get the tiny chicks safely out of the lofty nest set deep in to the longleaf pine, the team had to be
very delicate. They limited their disruption to the habitat and bird contact to a mere 15 minutes at
most.
Once the chicks were banded and weighed, they were returned to the nest, where mom and dad continued to feed and care for them.
The team will return to the site in 16 to 20 days to look inside the tree and check on the chicks. After
day 22, no further contact can be made with the chicks because it could cause the chicks to fledge too early.
The chicks normally leave their nest around day 27.
As they mature, the team will use spotting scopes to track the progress of the endangered bird.
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