Rfalconcam Forum

I happened to just check the camera and there was a falcon at the nest, looked like the female.  Looks like a scrape is started.    Spring is close!   :clap:

I check every day, good catch Debbie. YAY

Caught a falcon at Travelers!

I do wish there was a box there.

Me too Janet, remember the year she and the eggs were covered in snow? In the Summer, they are so hot up there on the roof with no protection! If the were our falcons, they'd be sitting pretty.

I do.  Wasn't Buckeye (RIP) covered in snow one year, too?  I guess if the location was really bad, the birds wouldn't use them  :confused:

1st Egg !!  :2thumbsup:

Peregrine Watch at Travelers Tower

Nest News 2011

2011 March 21 - The falcon is now incubating one egg. From this webcam shot, it was laid during the early evening of March 19.

2011 March 16 - 2011 March 16 - A falcon has returned to nest on the tower ledge. It is currently preparing the box for what we hope to be a successful nesting season.

YAY, they are updating!!

http://falconcam.travelers.com/news.html (http://falconcam.travelers.com/news.html)

Saw 3 eggs this morning, website confirmed.

http://falconcam.travelers.com/news.html (http://falconcam.travelers.com/news.html)

She's been pretty much sitting on the eggs fulltime since egg #1, at least almost everytime I check.

Thanks Debbie! Good news.

4 EGGS!!

Just an update from Hartford, as I work just 7 floors below we have been tracking the progress since the 4th the egg was laid on 3/29. This female, whom we assume is the same one from 2007 and 2009 (post Mariah whom hailed from Greece NY) that was born un-named in Lawence MA in 2003, gets A plus for dilgence, we have access to the image server that captures the stills every 10 minutes and posts them on-line, and for the last two weeks we have seen maybe just 5 pictures from the thousands where she is not sitting on the eggs.  CT DEP, besides being understaffed due to budget, has always taken the approach that these are wild annimals so do not treat them as pets. thus they do not name them and have recommended to Travelers the simple box, mind you it faces east so it gets sun only in the AM.  We also are missing the peyton place atmosphere that Archer's two timing has created in Rochester (where I just happened to grow up) , hey, as long as the child support is there, go for it.

I guess simple box is all they got. Hey, it works. Thanks for the info daawizz, appreciate it. Been watching Travelers for years.

I figured everyone is getting impatient waiting for some hatching, so here are some pics from last years Travelers banding day that never got published for some reason. There had been a fourth eyas but it had wandered off the main terrace, it may have survived as there are 3 terraces that drop a foot each, the last terrace drops 2 stories,  It was never seen again but the sub terraces are not easily viewable, The DEP officer came solo and was unable to look around at all so we will never know.  Love Mama’s glare as she sat outside the window, if looks could kill..  enjoy Russ

PS – Mom remains diligent this year, should have hatching in about a week or more

They have a hatch or hatches....not sure...eggshells!!

so far its one, happened overnight as first pics of the day show one egg shell, still waiting for a clear shot of the eyas.. She almost got up a minute ago and the male has been circling the tower for the last 20 minutes. Shell is blowing around no and is almost out of camera view..

OK thanks, keep us posted. Fun now!

She finally moved and the male showed up!! No cigars!

Ahhh, thanks for the pics!

After weeks of almost no photo ops, Mom is being very cooperative today, first feeding we have seen..

This is the hardest cam to capture anything! That's why we have so little inventory on this site. LOL Even during the Amelia days, she never got off the chicks. Crazy huh?

THANKS!!!

 :mbanana:  SWEEEET!   ;D

Donna - etal - The Site and cameras are run by Travelers Insurance's IT team and the web "news" posted by Communications, I work with both and have been able to get more than the every 10 minute low def photos you see on the web site. I have internal access to the archive of the every 10 minute web photos so I can back view when I get in every morning, plus I have the live streaming feed the pictures are captured from, most of todays shots were captured by good old windows screenshots from that feed.  Of course both still use the same low-def cameras. This year I noticed the forum on other falcon sites so I joined to share what I can get with you folks,  She is honkered down right now as we have a thunder-boomer going through.. More to come!

When I wrote to Travelers last year and the year before, they told me the Childrens Museum is in charge of updating the web page. Is this so? I wish they would update, so much easier than guessing. The one year, they totally had no updates. I asked if they would please do so...and they did.

Thank you for the info.

Having some camera issues but it appears we have at least one more hatch! After the rain yesterday and the hot sun today, Cam2, the better camera-with the better angle) has fogged up.. but hopefully it will clear itself, Still nice family setting. In foggy one it looks like some new btroken shells. I will be heading out this afternoon to the adirondaks for a long weekend looking for the not-so-elusive beerus-americas, but will return to my falcon duties on Tuesday when hopefully we should have all four!

seems one of the photos mis-fired 

Thanks and have a great weekend!

I always love when they do this  :wub:

When I see this position, I think of "Shield your home"...you know that commercial for Sloman!  :stupid:

And I always think of this picture...

,,,my grandmother had this over the bed where we slept at her house...

While I was away in the Adirondaks, My cohorts herer at Travelers have been monitoring the cams, we had a clear three by Monday AM, maybe 4, kind of hard to tell because they are one big fur ball.. but todays feeding shows a clear 4! so all egss were good!

 :hatch1: :hatch1: :hatch1: :hatch1:  So darn cute!  Makes me impatient for our hatches!!!  ;D
                                                    :thanks2:

Happy to report we find all four eyas being feed frequently and with great assistance from the Male. After scanning yesterdays archives we located  this pic with 4 very clear heads..

There's always a wrong-way-Corrigan!  Thanks!

Nice...and cute! Thanks

Today was mostly rainy and Mom once again showed great diligence in keeping the kids well covered and dry, For your viewing pleasure i have the text book cover technique, one of the two feedings captured and what  I call the huddle, Can't recall seeing eyas in such a clean formation, usually its a pig pile where you can't tell where one stops and the pother starts, anyway the 4 guys are on their own in a perfect huddle, "ok, Joe you go long, Pete, you do a short square, and Phil, how about doing some decent blocking this time!"

Very cute pics again, thank you for posting. So adorable!!  :heart:

I love the greenery!  Babies are so cute!

All is well at the tower, had the internal streaming feed running on my side monitor  while doing work and suddenly noticed the male had flown into view, he brought a nice package, think it was a plumb pigeon, sans wings (been a lot of pigeon wings on the streets of DT Hartford lately), I was a bit mesmerized and by time  I could think tpo print screen he was gone, which is his MO, very supportive, but from a distance. And brings in a constant bounty. She feed them most of the pigeon and then flew of to either eat the rest herself or store it somewhere, came back 5 minutes later and rersumed shielding duty. Pic one is feeding and 2 is her taking off with leftovers, enjoy -

Yep, we got a couple walking already and one that's a wanderer! Hopefully Mr Loner (who was later stared back into the group by mom) will not be like last year's wanderer who wandered right out of the box and off the terrace (there are 3 more levels, but after that you need to fedge in a hurry) and was never seen again nor tagged.

 :thanx:

I love when they wander with those BIG Feets!!

They are all exploring the box now, once they can hop out ma will be traumatized
first shot shows them all over the place, second shows mom back and wondering how she will get them back in a huddle, Three is success

AWWW!  They are adorable!

Thye are cute.  Love the "greens"  growing in the nest box.  Can't wait until we have our own in Rochester. 

 ;D

I love them little/big-footed eyases!!  :clap: Thanks for the pics.

CROPS!!

 :spaghetti: Oh my!  ;D

Falcons are doing great here, as you can see its appears one of the cameras is now pointing skyward, lucky it the older camera and not the clear one, still it was panned out so as they get out the next box we will quickly lose sight of them  :'( - Meanwhile its a glorious spring day and one of the guys is sunning himself, actually he looks like he was shot and flopped flat out, I included a second picture showing him moving around to squelch any rumors of his demise..

Looking doubtful for camera 1, but I caught the crew hanging today, amazing how fast they grow. They walk very well and on the stream, you can see them calling out  all the time. I suspect we will start seeing feathers soon.

A-dorable! Thanks.

As soon as I posted Cam 1 came back!  And it seems zoomed in closer and in bertter focus. Caught a feeding, which this year is every hour or so it seems, so much that they just sit calmly in a rowwith no pushing and shoving..

Aww, very well mannered kids!  ;D

Looks like the "Blob" spilling over the edges!

 :2funny:

Kids are growing fast, as you see rain (and we have 2 more days forcasted) has left the poor kids a bit soaked and a puddle looms in the background, but if you look close at the end of their wings you can see the feathers emerging!  Also, I have been informed banding day will be this Friday. What a difference a year makes, last year they were weeks behind Archer and Beauty and this year weeks ahead.  I guess all that hanky-panky by Archer slowed down the process!

 :rofl: Remember when this nestbox had no pooh on it?  :rofl: :gum:

Off and on heavy rain last night has left the box a bit of an island, not to worry, can't get any deeper.  just a big puddle..

Timing is everything, I knew DEP was coming in but my schedule did not permit,damn job alwasy gets in the way! Anyway, in case you were not lucky to catch it, just after 11AM they went out, boxed them up and banded them, Mom, spent her time glaring, very stressed as you can see, when replaced, one eyas was outside the box, but mom lured it back somehow (food most likley,  anyway I good shot of the eaterfront property too

Sorry about the typos, haste makes waste.. for those unable to decipher, that's "waterfront", one of the guys on the floor captured this shot from the web page..

What a great pic!  :clap: :clap: :clap:

Well, it was only a matter of time, The kids have left the box and gone off camera, at least they are all banded and lets hope they stay on the top terrace till the can fledge. At sunrise they were all in the normal pig pile but as you can see, they wandered off one at a time.  Using the every 10 minute archive I have access to at Travelers, here is the sequence of escape  which will be continued on next post..

PS-Note how fast the feathers are taking over their bodies

Last pics-  with a final live shoot of Mom , seemingly irritated that they have de-boxed on their own. Once the puddle drys I assume they will wander back into view, the lip of terrace is a lot bigger and the only the one to hop over to the lower terrace was from last year, fate unknown (their is three more levels going down, and its hard to see from other buildings, but he was never sited)

Well, Mom cornered one back in the box, but it did not last long, you can see 2 back by the vent a hour later, they wandered behind the vent (shade) and have not re-emerged to my knowledge, another suddenly popped up by the box a bit latter, he wandered straight to right thru the water and disappeared too

Boy these guys are getting big! And what a nice bathtub for them!  ;D

So Mom did get 3 of the 4 back into the box for food, but as soon as lunch was over they headed back out, one did a very impressive wing test, amazing how big the span is already

Some local falcon followers were freaking out about the possibility of one of them "going over" again, so i perused the archives and found that most  if not all returned for the night and then definitely all four had breakfast, every other archived shot from today shows no birds, I am guessing that the area off camera has no puddle but maybe they are just camera shy.

This crew is staying on the terrace nicely, Archives from yesterday show all 4 still wandering around, getting bigger by the minute! I have been watching live stream on and off to get a good close up but they tend to avoid the box and walk the perimeter..

Shame the epicenter of falcon watching, with legions of fans and high def / multi-angle cameras, is going a eyas-less (sans a miracle re-clutch), Never the less, this year is a banner year for Hartford (we have had our lean years too) and they are rapidly approaching fledging, which with the box location and bad cameras, will most likley once again go undocumented (How do they make that first step of the edge??). I caught the kids hanging around a lot yesterday, today not at all as they are off camera /and/r comatose). One shot is funny, I had just switched to the camera to see one eyas eating some food apparently just dropped of by M or D, When one bolted from background and stole it and ran off.. he eventually shared with all, but I was lucky enough to screen shot the steal..  They are also doing a lot of wings tests flapping around, note one of them has almost zero fluff now,  mostly they just sit on the wall dreaming of flying and pigeons!

 :thanx: They grow up so fast! It seems like only yesterday they were fragile little fluff balls.  ;D

For those unaware, tornados rolled across western Mass yesterday late afternoon, CT was under a watch but only had isolated T-storms.  Springfield, the worst hit, is only 30 miles up the road! Lucky for Hartford and the eyas we did not even get a rain storm, once passed just south and another just north. Still as the front passed here all the eyas got off the edge and hunkered down near the wall, such instincts!  Also attched some more feeding time and as well as a early AM shot today showing all four still pacing the ledge!

They are so huge. We had the same Tornado watch yesterday also, hit PA somewhere and missed us. Thanks for the updates.

Kids are no longer walking around, doing a jump fly thing, Mom is doing soaring Demos, Its just a matter of time, Two have no fluff yet, two have some, but not much.. betting by time I return Monday.. two or more will be airborn. Unfortunately can only see streaming feed on internal network here.

Following "the fledge" here is always tough, the cameras being limited and the nest nearly impossible to track from other buildings or the street. But I did go thru the 10 minute-interval archives and noted that as of Sunday around noon, all four were still there, and the most in one camera after that was 3 early Monday AM. This morning while watching the live stream I see Mom playing with Camera 2 wire that now hangs loose, only a matter of time before that camera goes dead the way she is pecking at it!  In the background is a sleeping Eyas next to the round corner stone. OKAY, since typing and capturing the first pic, the eyas went out of view, the next archive picture 12 minutes later shows the eyas is up with wings flapping and then Gone?? Did he take off or is he just sleeping behind vent??  Interesting enough Mom is oblivious either way, still fascinated by the dangling wire, Kid flew off?? Yawn
So far today, no other camera shots of Eyas.. could they all be gone??? Mom just bored? I will keep a eye out my window and also at lunch time outside..
Pic 1  - screen shot of mom playing and lump in corner
pic 2 - fledge??
Pic 3 - just mom now..

pic three!!!

Very interesting mom playing with the wires. Usually it's the kids. Hope all goes well with them. They have watchers down there in case? I know before they didn't really have a crew but!

There are more people in Rochester that know about the Hartford Falcons then in Hartford. Birds might as well be on a cliff in the Adirondacks! So if they have problems they are pretty much on their own. Having said that DEP HQ is 2 blocks away. Anyway, Dem Birds been playin me!!! just saw 3 at once, so maybe they are hopping up and down the terraces (the area where they are does three 1-2 ft drops- after which it drops either 20 stories, 10 stories or 2 stories depending on direction) or maybe just hangin out a sight on the south side. Here's the three I just saw, the guy in the right is pacing back and forth, looks like he's thinkin about It!
also, they can fly jump, you can tell one is on top of the Vent in last pic, so hopping terraces is possible

I now believe most if not all are flying, being 22 stories up and out of camera view makes it hard, the only sightlines to the terrace is from street blocks away, so even if I brought my telephoto lens in it would be mere dots. Over the last few days I have noticed a occasional sighting on the lower terraces and yesterday as I was leaving i heard lots of screeching, which the young ones tend to do during their first flights, Not  sure if its from joy or panic, or both, but they are particularly noisy at first. Then today as I drove in I could see 3-4 soaring around, and looking out my 15th floor window we have had numerous sighting including one with pigeon, most likely Mom unless one of them is a natural.  One of them seemed to be stationed on a antenna across from the tower hours at a time, I assume its Mom, luring the kids to practice from their tower perches.  So sorry no pics, but rest easy, unless you love pigeons

Thanks so much for the update. I wish them well!

Well, I spent last week on Vacaction and am slowly catching up, No word on any fledge issues and occasional mornings we hear screeching and the occasionall fly by of multiple falcons. But for the most part they are traveling all over the area. I see our Corp Comm dept posted theBanding day pics, here is the link if you did not notice it, note just one DEP agent does it all, box is right below the window - http://falconcam.travelers.com/photoalbum.html (http://falconcam.travelers.com/photoalbum.html) -The children's museum really does not do much anymore, too bad. We actually have a new science center a block away from the box, (the museum is in west hartford), I may wander in the science center and see if they can't get involved somehow, maybe even with a long range camera.  BTW - I vacationed on the Outer Banks and the Pelicans riding the waves in single file is fascinating, as was the the soaring Osprey. 

I love this face but the picture says Amelia..I really wish someone would take over the reins of this site once and for all. I have written to them numerous times and each puts the blame on each other. So I hope who ever reports will do it properly.  Thanks for trying to help, hope you make head way.

What an adorable Peregrine!   :heart:

I need to track down my building guy, which is not easy, so I can't be sure what the next steps are, But  a guy on the floor copied these photos from the 10-minute archive, this was the 2nd box at this location, so its time for replacment was due..

Pic 1 -At 10:50, the box is there and full of weeds.
 

Pic 2 - At 11:00, the weeds have been pulled and the wooden frame is removed.  Nothing different in the 11:10 shot.

Pic 3 - 11:20, nice close up of shovel and barrels, which are about to be used to take up the remains of the nest. 11:30 was closeup of pants

Pic 4 - 11:40, all evidence of nest is gone.

Oh Yeah, later on a falcon showed and hung around.. We hear them 1-2 times a day, but sightings are fewer, so many places to perch, most hard to see from buildings and street..

Its been a week or two since we have seen or heard any of the falcons, My buddy in the enxt cube comes in early and saw 4 of them swooping around a few weeks back and then since then, nothing. But today (saturday) I came in to catch up on work and heard one as I crossed the Plaza, Top of the Plaza building has a lit Travelers sign, that is in indvidual letters, and it looked like one was on top of the "R", Once  on the 15th floor I looked accross to the Plaza building and not only was it a falcon on the R but another was on lower part of the S, Would have been a great pic if not for the fact that my Canon rebel with the zoom lense was safely at home, :( oo well , still good to know they are still doing well. we never really saw Mom and Dad hangin around together like Archer and Beauty so I suspect it was two of the kids.

Oh how nice they are still around. I guess soon they will take off for parts unknown, unless they are spotted! Thanks for the update!