6:02 both arrive


Archer bowing


I think Archer's stuck in that position.
Are we done yet?
I believe we are

Both left at 6:20

miss c is as beautiful as her mama, but bigger i think
do wish she'd be a little nicer to her dad

I don't think she means to scare him but if something that big, Kakking, came flying at me, I'd beat feet too. Poor Archer. She's always looking for a snack. 

Absolutely, Annette! DO NOT OPEN THAT!!! Consign it to the Trash with all haste! It came in as Junk, right? Even things that look bona-fide are just plain rubbish. I think I have received this message recently too. And we keep getting some purportedly from our phone company - NOT! - telling us to update our data... I think I am right in saying that the true bank, phone company etc. would never send such an email. I am not savvy about much when it comes to the web, but I have learned to recognise this type of thing. So - better safe than sorry, Girlfriend! Dump it!!

(Also... check the English: Webmail is sometimes "webmail" and sometimes "Webmail". Also, it says "...your webmail will be disable" instead of "disabled". And "click the below link" - not "the link below". Dubious use of the language is always a giveaway!)

If true, Annette-you might consider modifying your post to eliminate the link - just to eliminate the possibility of someone in this forum accidentally clicking on it and getting crap on their computers. I believe the author can modify their own message after posting it.

Lou

I agree Lou, when I saw the link, I took a few words out of it and looked it up. It was some kind of spam scam lottery. Definitely a FAKE!! Spikeflow, Flowlist.

No falcons but what a beautiful clear pic of the SBA Bridge. I'll bet if I posted every pic from every minute from this cam, I'd find a falcon somewhere in there..enlarged, of course. (But I won't)..

I think I saw a red band but couldn't enlarge the picture

Yes, it's definitely Callidora.

In any field project, there is nothing more exhilarating, exhausting, and time-consuming than trapping animals. Vultures are no exception. Two and half busy weeks and I am still three vultures short. That said, it has been an amazing time and we have been able to put out 12 GSM-GPS units onto seven Ruppell’s vultures, three African white-backed vultures, and two Lappet-faced vultures. As usual, the Lappet-faced vultures continue to be the trickiest to trap. Not only are there fewer of them, but they prefer smaller carcasses (which are more difficult to trap at), they arrive late (which means you are more likely to catch someone else first), and they are a bit more shy. The key with Lappets is to find some really hungry, aggressive individual, but in and of itself that is rather tricky.

So how does one trap a vulture in the first place? The process is surprisingly simple. Step 1: Find a carcass, preferably with vultures on it. Step 2: Gently move the birds off using the car and put the trap down (the trap is just nooses that are attached to the carcass using parachute cord – it has to be strong after all). Step 3: Drive away and watch closely. Generally if you are going to catch one it will be fast. Usually within a few minutes, the birds are back squabbling over the meat and a few minutes after that and you’ll have one.

Once we get the bird the process is pretty straightforward. The first priority, if the trapped bird is of a species/age that we are looking for, we attach a GSM-GPS unit. These incredible little devices will allow us to follow the bird for up to a year – seeing everywhere it goes, how fast it travels, and even the altitude of its flight. Unlike satellite units, these newer devices use the cell phone coverage to transmit the data back to the user (i.e. me). So effectively I get text messages from all the tagged birds once a day. Next we take blood, primarily because we are interested in their immune system. How can an animal literally stick its head into and consume the rotting flesh of the another (who quite likely died of a disease itself) without every getting sick? This is the conundrum of the vulture and we are hoping that by studying their powerful immune systems we might gain some insights that could help treat or cure bacterial infections like anthrax and staph in the future. Then we release the bird. No drugs are used during the process, so you are dealing with a chirping 15 lb. bird that is fully awake for the fifteen to twenty minutes that it usually takes to get everything done. Fortunately I have had some great help – thanks to the likes of two Peregrine Fund employees (Evan and Matt), Keith Bildstein from Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, my advisor Dan Rubenstein, various other unwitting volunteers, and of course my field assistant Jon.

So this is how it is supposed to work, but when you are working with animals you always have to be prepared for the unexpected. Given that we have now trapped over thirty vultures, there have invariably been some adventures. But I will save those for another blog.
 

Just how BIG are the birds in your neck of the woods?????

That's a REALLY HUGE birdbath!!!!

Maybe for the Falcons in Rochester with the 7 foot wingspans that were spotted.  a while back. 

Looks like she chased Archer away...again...

(movie)

What else is new Ei?

That second pic in particular looks like Miss Callidora to me...

I thought at first it was C but wasn't quite sure. Didn't want to say if it wasn't. If it is her, she looks just like her momma. Another little trickster. If it is Miss C, I'm so happy she's still around.

Looks like Beauty. Was only there for a few.

Havard agaves of West Texas mountains have a beneficial relationship with bats, as well as birds and insects such as moths: The more pollinating critters, the more agaves that reproduce across desert mountains.

We recently did our bird-watching in Big Bend National Park by walking around blooming Havard agaves in the Chisos Mountains Basin.

Commonly called the century plant under the myth that it blooms once every 100 years, the Havard agave (Agave havardiana) is common in the Davis and Chisos mountains of West Texas at elevations ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. The plant blooms between late spring and midsummer at the end of its 10- to 30-year life cycle.

The plant has a flower stalk reaching 6½ feet tall and a base spreading 3 feet wide. What attracts birds are the agave's approximately 2,000 nectar-generating flowers, with each flower containing 200 milligrams of sugar in its nectar per day. Compare that with the flowers in a garden penstemon that produce a mere 2 to 3 milligrams of sugar per day.

So we watched agaves for birds. One of the more beautiful was a Scott's oriole with a coal-black hood draped from its head down its back and onto its breast and with black wings and tail offset by a golden-yellow body. The bird's color fit perfectly with the bright yellow hues of the agave flowers.

The oriole perched in the center of a flower cluster and gulped down nectar from the blooms. Primarily an insect-eater, the bird was undoubtedly supplementing its diet with sugary nectar and deriving much-needed water from it.

Another bird we spotted was the tiny Lucifer's hummingbird, found outside of Mexico only in the Chisos and Davis mountains. I've taken many a hot summer's hike down mountain canyons while thinking the hummer got its name from being in places as hot as you-know-where.

But the name is Latin for "light-bearing" and refers to the hummer's bright iridescence.

The male Lucifer's hummer that showed up was so small his body didn't brush against the reproductive parts of the large agave blooms. He therefore got nectar free of charge because he didn't pollinate the agave in return for the nourishing juice.

Maybe there is a little Lucifer-the-Devil in him after all.

A surprise sighting was a Colima warbler. I've spent many knee-crunching hikes up steep mountains to see this bird, which nests only in Mexico's high Sierra Madre Oriental and in Texas in the high Davis Mountains and Boot Canyon high in the Chisos Mountains.

But there it was drinking nectar at a Havard agave at a much lower mountain elevation. Saved my knees.
Desert wildlife, including the Scott's oriole, are drawn to Havard agave blooms in the desert for their high nectar content.

[I can hear 2 near the nest right now, sounds like the Juvies.]

Good morning bloggers near and far!

The heat and blue skies of yesterday have left us and been replaced by grey, but as of yet, no rain.
No sign of any ospreys this morning, at least not by us staff. I will however be spending a fair amount of time out in the hide in search of our flying friends. We are all pondering whether they have decided to follow mum or are still hanging about, just out of sight? Only time will tell.
As in years gone by, we will continue to see a number of ospreys over the loch right up until mid September, with young and experienced birds alike heading south from northern climes. We can only speculate as to their identity, but I like to think that our remaining 3 birds will hang about as long as they can to watch over their loch, and bide us a fond farewell we we’re not watching!

Keep a weather eye on the horizon; that osprey passing overhead could be a familiar friend!
Fiona

I can hear 2 near the nest right now, sounds like the Juvies.

Two peregrine falcon chicks, which hatched in mid-May in the nest on the County-City Building, are out on their own.

The two falcons, one male and one female, have not been seen in the nest since Aug. 5, said Carole Riewe, a local retired naturalist and raptor rehabilitator.

That amount of time away from the nest means the birds have left to find their own homes, she said.

The chicks' parents, Zephyr and Guinevere, have kept their home atop the downtown building year-round since arriving in South Bend in 2003.

But the pair's chicks from past years have been found in other parts of the Midwest, identified by the bands Indiana Department of Natural Resources biologists put on the birds' legs.

A female falcon hatched in 2007 has been nesting for the past two years in Racine, Wis., said Riewe. The bird laid eggs this year.

Another female falcon hatched in 2009 suffered some abrasions and minor injuries this year when she was bumped by a car in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., Riewe said. The bird was rehabilitated at a facility in Green Bay and is expected to be released in a week or so.

For those who follow the peregrine falcons via the webcam on the city's website, Riewe said the camera will be removed from the nestbox until February.

"There's not much point in leaving it exposed to the weather," she said, especially when there aren't any chicks in the nest.

With my morning cup of coffee and a Nutri-grain bar, I finally finished looking at your pictures. All I can say is WOW! You guys sure go places. Thanks Patti & Jeanne.