It was beginning to look like the Albany, NY falcons wouldn't be parents this year but after what seemed like forever and watching all the other nests come to life, we woke up to two hatches this morning.

Maybe they were waiting to see if the State workers were going to be furloughed.

Upstate Bonnie

CONGRATS!! They are late but better late than never. 

Good job Baerbel! Thanks...love the pics. Yes Ei, that pic is adorable. 

Archer's babysitting again

he moved again. Beauty is enjoying a long needed break.
and she's back
with some good eats
and the choice of food is.... ???

  he's grounded

The way he's standing there he almost looks like a penguin!

     

he moved

Archer

oink  lil piggys!   

"Snort"

Nice pic!   

Cute huh?

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/districts/newforest/goshawk_live_nest_cam/ Goshawk Cam

A  RARE Goshawk chick being raised in the New Forest has died.

The baby was one of three whose progress at a secret location is being broadcast live on the Daily Echo’s website via a webcam.

RSPB project officer, Dr Therasa Paul, said the mother found the chick dead and pulled it to one side.

“We don’t know what it was, maybe the heat? But they’re very vulnerable at this age,� said Dr Paul, from Ashurst.

The hot weather was making life easier for the parents than the wind and rain when the project was run last year.

Dr Paul said the remaining chicks, now just over a week old, had been so well fed they were even refusing food.

“One is particularly greedy. They got a squirrel on Sunday.�

The female parent is an escaped falconer’s bird and the male is from wild stock.

The chicks are expected to fly from June 19-26 and it is hoped a pair of Hobbys will then take over the nest.

The project is a partnership and between the RSPB, the New Forest National Park Authority, the Forestry Commission and Carnyx Wild. Webcam specialist Carnyx said it has had more than 100,000 visitors to the live stream since April 1.

This year’s new camera system can pan, tilt and has infrared light

REEDS BEACH – There is no evidence that either the Horseshoe Crab or Red Knot population is increasing along Delaware Bay.

The amazing story of the Red Knot arriving each year on Delaware Bay shores from southernmost Argentina at the same time Horseshoe Crabs are coming out of the water to lay their eggs has been repeated for ions.
The long and short of it is the Red Knots feed on the eggs here, rests a week or two, gain a considerable amount of weight and then fly to the Canadian Arctic Circle to raise a family. In the last decade, the number of Horseshoe Crabs has been decreasing meaning fewer eggs for the birds to consume on the shoreline, lessening their chances of having the energy to fly to the Arctic Circle.

Each year, scientists from as far away as Australia and England take over two rental houses on Reed’s Beach and study Red Knot/Horseshoe crab numbers at the peak of the phenomenon, a full moon in late May or early June. The crabs come out of the bay in the highest numbers under the full moon.

“The crab spawning is happening at the right time in relation to the bird stopover,� said Humphrey Sitters, a scientist from the University of Exeter in England with the International Wader Study Group.

He said in England, shore birds are called waders. Sitters said he has been coming to Reed’s Beach to study the birds for 14 years.

In 2008, there was a mismatch. Horseshoe Crab spawning was too late and the birds did not get enough food, said Sitters.
“The evidence seems to be there has been no real change in the size of the crab population,� said Sitters.

“In the distant past, before the overharvesting of the crabs, there were so many crabs and they spawned for such a long period of time, there were always plenty of eggs but we’ve now got the situation where the timing is critical,� he said.

In 2009 and this year, the birds and crabs have arrived at the same time. He said there is some evidence this year at least part of the Red Knot population was delayed in early May in Patagonia, the southernmost portion of South America in Argentina.

Horseshoe Crab numbers reached a peak in 2006-2007 and have since declined, according to Virginia Tech data. Overharvesting by commercial fishermen who cut up the crabs for bait to catch conch and eels has reduced the crab population greatly since 1990.

“If anything, the adult crabs have declined over the last three years (2006-2009) but on the other hand, there seems to be an increase in immature crabs,� said Sitter.

The scientists conduct counts of the number of Red Knots along the bay. Last year, the count increased to about 25,000 birds. He said this year he believed the peak count would be around 17,000 Red Knots.
The population has dropped from a count of 50,000 birds in 1998.

In some years, all of the Red Knots arrive with no departures to the Canadian Arctic which reflects the total number of birds that come to Delaware Bay. In other years, some birds depart before others arrive affecting the peak count.
Some Red Knots stop off at other sites on the east coast such as the Virginia barrier islands. He said where they stop may be based on the food supply at both locations.

For the last several years, the Red Knot and Horseshoe Crab population “have been sort of bumping along the bottom,� said Sitter, with no major change in either population in the past four to five years.

He said counts of the Red Knot are conducted in its wintering area in Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost tip of South America where the number of birds has been “bumping up and down.�
Sitters said the winter population has averaged in the 16,000 to 17,000 range.

“There is no evidence of a recovery of the Red Knot population at all,� he said.

A full moon occurred on May 26 bringing a lot of crabs from the bay to spawn both at Reed’s Beach and on beaches in Villas. On May 27, this reporter saw one Red Knot among a huge gathering of sea gulls on Reed’s Beach eating tiny, green Horseshoe Crab eggs. Those who had been watching bird activity for several hours from the observation platform reported seeing an occasional Red Knot.

Both New Jersey and Delaware placed moratoriums on Horseshoe Crab harvesting in 2006 and 2007.

At first glance I thought killer whale!

Exactly, me too little Piglet! 

A real breakfast
5:27

What up?
  Not sure but could be Archer bringing some grub

Morsel feeding at 2:52 am

  ???