A falcon fly by?

Nah, looks like Spider on cam Annette..or another kind of bug. Good guess though. 

Watchers on the bridge...lil blurred but cool.

Catching up on Tweets: From Dumpsterkitty: 6:51pm B and C soaring together-6:39pm: Callidora over gorge and loving being a peregrine.

MAK: 9:00- Watcher breakfast underway, seems not only are they eating but Beauty and Callidora made their grand fly-over and the watchers went went wild. Seems all are having a good time. Beauty had her own breakfast too! Have fun all you local and out-of-towner's.

Archer in nest this am
Thanks for stopping by Archer 

MAK and Dan are on Court and Chestnut St, in case anyone is interested in going. S side of Xerox building. 6:43am

MAK/Dan: 6:15 Callidora flying above the Xerox, Dan said all 3 were flying around there for 1/2 hour.

(MAK stopped at the Andrew St bridge, saw some guy throw a bike over the bridge), she beat feet out of there. Ya sure it was a bike???

Come on up - the coffee's on!

Haven't spotted any falcons yet though.

I wish! Yay, Colleen's up early! 

[Wow, I am so far behind in posting about the Scottish Ospreys.....sorry.]

Wow, I am so far behind in posting about the Scottish Ospreys.....sorry. Both have successfully fledged. 

July 17th, 2010 by rboardman

All appears calm to begin this day. Yesterday was full of excitement highlighted by “our� female catching 4 fish in as many attempts. I have been hoping that this would occur over the past few days. What a gal! The unexpected, as ever, � bone caught in the throat� hopefully has not had ill effects on her.

When very little appears to be going on in front of our eyes, the egg “that wasn’t� stands large. I once called it “decor�, but perhaps now it can symbolise those past experiences for us all over the past 3-4 months.

Some days, the moments spent on the nest are spaced farther apart, by all parties, including “our� brilliant male. Let us try to savour each and every one of these times, the egg “that is�. Rinchen

Posted in Diary 2010 | 18 Comments »
Osprey Diary 16th July
July 16th, 2010 by E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT

Four Together Again:

 Yesterday evening we were treated to an unusual sight on the nest for this time of year, but one which warmed my heart- all four of our ospreys on the nest together again. It as only a brief moment, but when dad arrived with a whole fish, mum and the younger chick were ready and waiting and the older chick appeared lightning fast from stage left. Mum then quickly grabbed the fish and took off with it, whist dad gave chase to an intruder nearby- a frantic few moments. The look on the chicks faces was absolutely priceless- “what is no one going to feed us!?!â€�. No fear, mum soon returned with it having eaten the head- she must have been really hungry.

 Moments like these are just wonderful, and make you realise how much we are all going to miss our wee family all too soon- but they still have a few magic moments and interesting behaviours to share with us yet this season!

Emma Rawling Perthshire Ranger

Posted in Diary 2010 | 305 Comments »
Osprey Diary 15th July
July 15th, 2010 by E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT

  We are all hoping here at Lowes that the weather will finally improve today as it has been the wettest and coolest period so far this season. Not that the rain isn’t welcome, with the Loch (and our well) so low, however,  the rain has made life difficult for our ospreys.

The male (and female) have certainly had their work cut out fishing as the wind has created substantial waves on the lochs and visibility is poor. All the wild birds have been using the more sheltered bays on the leeward side of the loch for foraging and roosting. The ospreys, young and old, have been sitting in the sheltered trees across from the nest the last couple of days, hence the empty camera for so much of the day.Don’t worry it is normal for the youngsters to continue to use the nest for some weeks, and most of the fish deliveries will  still take place there. We should be able to enjoy views of them for some time to come- before the real withdrawal symptoms kick in for all of us as the chicks migrate into their future.Emma RawlingPerthshire Ranger

Posted in Diary 2010 | 245 Comments »
Osprey Diary 14th July
July 14th, 2010 by E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT

 A cool, damp and windy morning here at Lowes, with both the chicks visiting the nest in between training flights. Both are looking more confident in their flights and making remarkably good landings all things considered.

 Our poor lady osprey has been looking a wee bit lonely on the nest -a bad case of empty nest syndrome literally. Some of us have been noticing that she seems to be spending a lot of time on the nest, rather than joining in with fishing, which would be more usual at this time of year. Is she resting up to build her strength? She seems to be supervising the youngsters and watching carefully, but taking things easy.  Not a bad thing as she has only weeks left to gain strength before autumn migration. We can only hope she reaches full condition in time, in order to have the best chance of surviving the journey ahead.

 Emma Rawling

 Perthshire Ranger

6pm Update : Hi folks Emma here, sorry for the camera being a bit static today- someone forgot to change it to roving HD mode this morning ( we are human alas ) . I’ve just taken a wee tour of the loch and found two of our four ospreys ( mum and one chick) hiding in the better cover of the trees just across the bay- this is the side that is not so wind blown today! Don’t worry they will still use the nest for quite a while yet, it’s just that today it is the wettest and windiest palce on the loch so they’ve sensibly decided to shelter elsewhere. Emma

Posted in Diary 2010 | 220 Comments »
Osprey Diary 13th July
July 13th, 2010 by E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT

  Sorry about the camera problems overnight folks- the computer which hosts the camera to the web was a wee bit overtired again- restart and a few kind words and its working again- thank goodness!

 Both our chicks have now taken their exciting first flights over the last 48 hours and both have done extremely well. Instinct is a wonderful thing and both chicks flew strongly, though not very far as yet. They will often perch up somewhere close by at this stage to build up the energy to return to the nest, as long flights are still a bit beyond them- those wing muscles need a lot of conditioning.

 The first chick to fly is the older and seems more confident at this stage, whereas the younger is more tentative, but this is nothing to worry about. Both have returned safely to the nest for feeding last night so there is nothing wrong with their homing instinct!

Emma Rawling

Perthshire Ranger

Posted in Diary 2010 | 184 Comments »
Camera problems
July 13th, 2010 by Peter Ferns

Good morning all.

I am still having problems getting the cameras back on line. I will keep working on it until it is sorted.

At the moment mum is shouting for a fish from Dad but he is not around the nest area at the moment. We will give you a proper update a bit later. After I get this camera working. Technology is a wonderful thing but some times it can be a pain in the, well I wont say but you know what I mean.

Peter

Tags: camera, osprey
Posted in Diary 2010 | 7 Comments »
Osprey Dairy 12th : Chicks Fledging
July 12th, 2010 by E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT

Update: Thuderstorms abound! We’ll get the system up and running again ASAP!

Our first born osprey chick has been pretty busy since fledging for the first time yesterday- no less than six flights from the nest and a few practise landings ( some better than others which can be comical!). This morning it has been away for quite some time- but don’t worry we’ve just found it perched high above the loch on the far side of the bay, getting used the new view.

With wing muscles only just getting used to all this work, chicks will often perch up somewhere nearby to rest and get the energy up to fly back to nest. Never fear though, as soon as there is even a hint of food arriving at the nest , the chick will appear as if from nowhere- sound familiar to anyone with teenage children?

 The second, slightly younger chick seems to be getting ready to follow suit this morning- after an attempt this morning at about half past six. Stay Tuned!

 Emma Rawling

Perthshire Ranger

P.S. at 9.10 am a spectacular aerial dog fight between the osprey parents and a heron who dared to come too close the nest, just shows the instinct to protect is still strong despite the chicsk being big enough to defend themselves now!

Update: at 9.40 this morning the second chick took its maiden flight- a text book one at that!

Posted in Diary 2010 | 227 Comments »
First chick takes to the skies!
July 11th, 2010 by fiona, osprey HQ

Hi folks,

If you were watching you will have seen chick no.1 spread its wings, hover above the nest and then fly free at 9:09am this morning! I will update you all more in a bit when I get everything else here sorted. Anyone else feeling emotional?!
Fiona

Well what a morning! When I got here at 8:40am, I just knew the conditions were right for a first flight, and both chicks were enjoying the fresh breeze, feeling the ‘wind beneath their wings’! I had sat by the video recorder for about 15mins and decided to get some work done and just as I sat down to count the money, the chick vanished from the screen! You’ll notice it took a while to find where it fly off too as mum had flown back onto her perch, just to confuse me! This was probably to be a landing beacon to the chick. It made a few attempts to land on various trees but the wind proved to strong and blew it over the top off them. An initial attempt was made to land on the nest, which it overshot by a long way, and I admit to having a giggle at that. But after another flight round about the loch, it came in for another attempt and made an almost perfect landing! Lady looked like a proud mum watching their child take it’s first steps while chick no.2 cowered in the nest looking slightly petrified! We just have to hope it plucks up the courage to follow suit, and today would be the perfect day to do so.

There was a lot of confusion as to whether one chick had flown last night, but I have had a look back at the footage and they did spend a lot of time on the edge of the nest just out of camera range of cam1. This is our night vision camera which gets switched on when we leave at night. Unfortunately it appears to have been blown to the right which we won’t be able to correct until the winter when we get up the tree to do some maintenance, so apologies for the poor picture your getting at night.

Keep your eyes peeled for flight number 2!
Fiona

WORK on demolishing an eyesore condemned Birmingham tower block was delayed because a family of squatters moved in.

But council housing bosses were in no hurry to evict this family – because it was a pair of peregrine falcons and their four chicks.

The birds of prey had made a nest for their fledgling family on the roof of Bayley Tower in Bromford.

The tower has lain empty for more than three years after tenants were paid more than £1 million between them in compensation for moving out.

Taxpayers were left with a £100,000 bill each year for security and it has been targeted by arsonists. Local MP Liam Byrne and residents have campaigned for it to be urgently demolished.

But housing officers from Birmingham City Council discovered their latest tenants in early spring and immediately contacted wildlife experts.

They were told to leave the birds alone and not disturb them until all had flown the nest.

Their discovery delayed the bulldozers moving in by several months, but council housing boss, Coun John Lines, said these were squatters he was happy to see.

“I don’t normally like it when tenants move into my properties and don’t pay rent, but in this case I’ll make an exception,� he said.

“I’m a very proud landlord and was quite happy to delay the demolition preparation so the falcons could stay there.

“We believe this is the first successful breeding of falcons in Birmingham for many years.�

Bayley, and the neighbouring Stoneycroft Tower, were first due to be demolished five years ago.

But the recession has delayed the move and it was only earlier this year the council finally got the go-ahead and promise of funding from the Homes and Communities Agency to begin the work.

The existence of the falcons was kept secret for fear thugs would try and steal the chicks.

Last month the family tried to flee the nest but were grounded.

They were taken to the Falconry Centre at Hagley where one sadly died of its injuries.

The remaining adults and three chicks were returned to Bayley Tower and last week eventually flew away.

Housing officers will now put a new nesting box on nearby towers in case the falcons, or others, return.

Before they flew, the birds had rings put around their legs so they can be identified if they are found.

Air Rights -- To Die For?



Federal agents swooped down on Prospect Park last week, removing hundreds of Canada geese and gassing them. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the culling was necessary to protect air travelers. Others dispute that claim.

The best introduction to the story is an article by Isolde Raftery that began on page A1 of Tuesday's Times and jumped to A22. The apt headline was "400 PARK GEESE DIE, FOR HUMAN FLIERS' SAKE". The story is really well written, and we suggest you click here to read it if you are interested. We appreciate the attention the Times gave to the subject.

A criticism of the story came from the New York City Audubon Society, whose position was described by the Times as "cautiously supportive of the mass euthanizing." In a later statement, the Audubon Society took issue with the Times' description of "NYC Audubon's position on culling resident Canada geese within the five boroughs." They now say:

    NYC Audubon believes that lethal control should be the last resort after all other methods for managing bird populations have been exhausted. The blanket approach of lethal control will not significantly reduce the risk birds pose to aviation safety. We maintain that City officials should reduce the amount of lush, green lawn space available throughout the city, which attracts geese. Without such measures, new geese will take up residence here and populations will quickly rebound to current levels. The City may also limit growth of the resident geese population through egg-addling or nest destruction.

    NYC Audubon also takes issue with the target population size identified by the Department of Agriculture, which calls for reducing the number of Canada geese in the city by 80 percent. This figure is not supported by sound scientific research. The recent cull at Prospect Park included nearly 100 percent of the geese in that area; essentially, this population was 'managed' into extinction. NYC Audubon strongly disagrees with that decision.

    When one species becomes so abundant that it has a negative impact on the habitat and resources of other native bird species - as may be the case with Canada geese - NYC Audubon, like most Audubon chapters, supports population management. But the option of lethal control should be a last resort, undertaken only when bird populations threaten the health, safety, and welfare of other wildlife and humans, and only after a rigorous environmental impact assessment has been done and full disclosure has been made to local citizens and other stakeholders.

Our view of the problem is that important issues have not been answered satisfactorily, and that we lack confidence in the process employed to reach specific decisions on the use of deadly force on animal families.

In fact, Canada geese are often a nuisance in many more ways than causing airplanes to crash, which is very rare. Their droppings litter golf courses and meadows. They eat shoots and small plants, depriving other species of nourishment. They are highly territorial, and hiss and bite when they believe they are intruded upon. Originally migratory birds flying long distances in the spring and fall, many have evolved into permanent residents of local open spaces. They hang around all year instead of flying south in the winter. They can overwhelm ducks, which are smaller waterfowl.

On the other hand, even unpleasant creatures do not deserve the Federal gas chamber to which they have been consigned, in some cases with a degree of arbitrariness. The government's declaration that geese must be killed if they are within seven miles of an airport, considering that Prospect Park is 6.5 miles from both LaGuardia and Kennedy, has the flavor of contrivance. Do the Feds mean to tell us that if the distance had been 7.2 miles, say, the geese and their goslings would have been spared?

The January 2009 collision with Captain Sullenberger's airplane was said to have been caused by migratory geese, not their cousins who amuse Brooklynites at Prospect Park. We think that in cases of capital punishment, the burden of proof is on the executioners. Of course, if human life is actually threatened by the geese, we side with our own species. But we are aware that government programs, once under way, are difficult to limit or restrain, unless there is a powerful lobby representing the other side. In this case, there is no economic interest in the survival of Canada geese, and there is no spokesgoose to represent them.

Another concern is the lack of public discussion on this issue. The searchlight has certainly not reached this government program. We do not recall any opportunity for local input, on either side. It is necessary to protect air travel, but where is the evidence that the indiscriminate slaughter of non-migratory geese is the best way to accomplish that goal? Perhaps the Feds do it because the non-migrants are easier to find and poison. You get better statistics that way.

Part of this outcry is an increasing lack of confidence in the authorities. One need not be a Tea Party ideologue to question the bureaucracy. It would be reassuring to see the science behind the kill. We have heard that the Interior Department originally declined to do the dirty work, so it was shifted to Agriculture, which had no qualms about the work. Perhaps there should be a Federal Bureau of Extermination to organize activities of this nature.

Another suggestion that has been made is that, if this program is to be continued, the geese should be fed to the poor, rather than dumped in a landfill, as was the case with the Prospect Park 400 (or 368, as we have been told). But the policy of providing free or low-cost food might lead to increasing the numbers of poor people, which is not on the Federal agenda.
 

Follow Henry J. Stern on Twitter: www.twitter.com/newyorkcivic

Vienna/Hanover - Police in Germany are planning to train vultures to find human remains and have obtained two young birds from an Austrian breeder, the police forensics chief of the German state of Lower Saxony said on Wednesday.

Turkey vultures can cover larger areas than corpse-sniffing dogs, but the birds have to be tested first to see whether they can actually be used in criminal investigations.

One of the brownish-black animals is already being trained at the Walsrode bird park near Bremen, forensic unit chief Rainer Hermann said he needed the two additional birds because turkey vultures seek carrion only in groups.

Hermann picked up the pair in the Austrian province of Carinthia on Wednesday.

Unlike other vultures, turkey vultures have an excellent sense of smell, in addition to sharp eyesight. They could reach remote areas and are more resilient than dogs, Hermann said.

"But they are clearly more stubborn than dogs," he added.

A friend of Hermann got the idea of training turkey vultures several years ago, after watching a television documentary about the birds. - Sapa-dpa

VANCOUVER — A baby eagle from B.C.'s Hornby Island — whose 11 weeks of life were followed by more than 11,000 people through a webcam — has died, prompting an outpouring of emotion by bird-lovers online.

Phoenix the eaglet was hatched on April 29 in a tree in the yard of Doug and Sheila Carrick.

Doug has had a camera installed in the nest since 2004, at which time he was approached by eagle enthusiasts who wanted to transmit the images over the Internet.

The webcam-filmed nest has been extremely popular, drawing thousands of viewers online.

"This is sad news which nobody was expecting," Doug posted on the The Eagles of Hornby Island website Thursday, following the baby eagle's death.

"We will keep you all informed at every step. The plan is to get Phoenix down from the tree to find out exactly why this happened."

At 11:13 a.m., as 2,325 people watched a live videocam, a climber wearing an orange helmet pulled the lifeless bird out of the nest.

There was an immediate outpouring of sorrow from the thousands of fans of the eagle website.

"There are no words for the sadness here today," wrote Alexis Davidson. "Watched Phoenix pop out of the egg and kept close vigil. It is so devastating as I remember most the love the parents showed for their sweet little one."

Others wrote RIP notes and poems to the young bird.

Lisa Kelm Primrose wrote a verse which ended:

"Fly, fly little wing,

Fly where only angels sing,

Fly away, the time is right,

Go now, find the light."

Wrote Lori Anderson Armstrong: "This is so very sad. We've been watching Phoenix grow and were excited to see his/her first flight. RIP."

For more information also go to www.hornbyeagles.com.

Rest in Peace little Phoenix...poor baby! 

I didn't see the video on the website for the news but here is the link-- of a falcon watcher from here who saved goats on the west coast!   

http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/Animal-Lover-In-Rochester-Helps-Save-Goats-Lives/lNvC2vFtFEme-IhhvsMQQQ.cspx

What an amazing story! What a great watcher. Could have been worse. Thanks jeanne. 

Reporting from the 15th floor of the Radisson.  I see one falcon (ARcher?) directly across from me on the Old Changing Scenes building, preening and another on the communication tower.  I may not leave my room!  (Don't know where to go anyway...)  Seems like I have a good spot here (and in a/c!)

Way to go Colleen, what better place but your own room, A/C and falcons.