20-Apr-23, 08:09:37 AM
|
|
23117
|
Other Nature Related Information / Falcon Web Cams / Re: Canada Falcons: All but Rhea Mae & Tiago, (they have their own thread)
|
on: 19-Mar-10, 07:15:49 AM
|
|
!!! What is going on?!
March 16, 2010 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:
Well I”m not sure! The past few weeks have seen our male on site sporadically and many times our female has been standing around in the rain waiting for him. I have observed mating and food transfers which are all good signs.
Today was different. When I arrived at the site, I first saw a falcon on the corner of the building rustling up the pigeons and on first glance thought it was Angel. However as I approached I distinctly heard the sounds of 2 falcons communicating with each other. Angel was in the nestbox which I can’t see into from the ground and unfortunately we have no way of viewing inside until the web cam goes live.
I can tell you that she spent most of the day in there and the male brought her food and came to check on her periodically. This would normally be the around time that she would lay her first egg as she is usually first in the city. However given our male is doing double duty I am not sure if that will be the case this year but I remain cautiously optomistic.
Peregrine Hunting
March 16, 2010 - Toronto - Canadian Tire
Linda Woods Reports:
Tuesday noon hour I found myself at Yonge and Eglinton. I observed one peregrine attempting breakfast over the intersection of Yonge and Eglinton. It broke off the half hearted attempt to chase down the pigeon and flew to the north east side of 22oo Yonge st., over looking the old TTC bus bay on the south east corner of Yonge and Eglinton.
|
|
|
|
|
23119
|
Other Nature Related Information / Falcon Web Cams / Re: Peregrines in San Jose
|
on: 19-Mar-10, 06:31:34 AM
|
|
SJ City Hall Falcon Cam
Clara and Esteban Colbert are a voyeur's dream. They live their lives in full view of a newly upgraded Web cam and are now awaiting the birth of their four new babies. They even have a Facebook fan page with nearly 500 fans and anxious onlookers who are helping to lay out details of their soap opera lives.
The two are San Jose's famous peregrine falcon couple who live atop City Hall and are now incubating four eggs.
When Clara laid the first egg on March 2, there was some question as to who the daddy was but video evidence turned up a few days later showing Esteban on incubation duty after Clara squeezed out the third egg. Sorry, Esteban, you're not getting away with denying you're the daddy. Now it's all documented on Flickr.
This is the fourth year mama Clara has laid eggs in birds' home overlooking San Jose. Glenn Stewart, biologist with the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, predicts the chicks will hatch at about the end of Easter Week.
"The eggs are being incubated," Stewart said, "and for now, it's going to be a little boring until they hatch."
A week after she delivered the first egg, Clara laid the fourth egg -- and it's all documented on Flickr. Stewart says four eggs are a typical clutch for falcons. The three young falcons born last spring have all migrated to find territories of their own. A fourth egg from that clutch never hatched.
Once they have all hatched, the city will open up the naming rights to all in the form of a contest. And in the true spirit of the "everything online" era -- Clara will tweet the chirping new arrivals.
|
|
|
|
|
23120
|
Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / A hunter of the open grasslands of the north
|
on: 19-Mar-10, 06:28:25 AM
|
|
Short-eared owls are birds of open grasslands.
Fran and I watched a pair of them hunting on the open prairies of Oak Hammock Marsh in Southern Manitoba early this winter.
The birds flew low to the ground and would suddenly dive into the snow in pursuit of prey.
One bird must have dived a dozen times and as far as we could tell, came up empty each time.
These owls hunt both day and night and can locate prey by ear. It’s difficult to tell if their feeding is a success because they will often swallow their prey whole.
Short-eareds are found all across North America, South America and Eurasia and on many oceanic islands. That makes them one of the most widely distributed owls in the world.
Short-eareds will compete with barn owls and in areas where barn owl populations have risen, the short-eared owl has declined in numbers.
While this owl prefers prairies, meadows, tundras and open woodlands, in the Hawaiian Islands it is also found around towns.
It nests on the ground and will lay from one to 11 creamy white eggs.
While this owl is declining in the southern portion of its range and is listed as of special concern, threatened or endangered in some states, it is common in the northern portion of its breeding range. Populations do fluctuate greatly along with prey population cycles.
|
|
|
|
|
23123
|
Other Nature Related Information / Raptor Web Cams / Barn owls to be banded this Saturday: Watch it LIVE
|
on: 18-Mar-10, 10:58:33 PM
|
1) We’ll be banding these owls on Saturday, March 20 around 3PM. Banding will be webcast starting around this time. If you live nearby we would be happy to have you attend, but this will be a fundraiser to help support the cam and Starr Ranch. $25/person. Thirty people is max. First come, first served (ONLY 4 SPACES LEFT as of 7:30PM 3/18). Sign up HERE 2) Starr Ranch is located directly behind the community of Dove Canyon in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. This Sunday is the Dove Dash 5k Run. Starr Ranch will have a display table before and after the race. Accordingly we have put together a team for the run called the “Starr Ranch Mountain Lions.” If anyone here is interested in participating you still have time to register and be a part of the team. We are also getting free Starr Ranch T-Shirts. When registering, you will have the option of joining the team. All are welcome. After the pancake breakfast, we will be able to stop by and visit the owl cam and check out a part of the Ranch. http://www.starrranch.org/blog/?page_id=2Boy their noisy! |
|
|
|
|
23124
|
Other Nature Related Information / Falcon Web Cams / Cathedral of Learning...Beauty's mom
|
on: 18-Mar-10, 10:37:44 PM
|
|
The Cathedral of Learning is many things — a symbol of higher education, a quiet study area surrounded by Gothic Revival architecture and, quite literally, a lovers’ nest.
Dorothy, an 11-year-old peregrine falcon, and her partner, E2, have nested at the very top the Cathedral of Learning since 2002. Dorothy recently laid three eggs — the third just two nights ago — in the sandy nest, which is being monitored by the National Aviary in Pittsburgh.
Kate St. John, a volunteer who monitors the pair of peregrine falcons, calls the building “the Taj Mahal for falcons.”
“The Cathedral of Learning is fantastic. It’s a gorgeous building, [with a] good view, and the nearest nest is far away, so there’s no competition,” said St. John, who has been monitoring falcons since 2001.
Because peregrine falcons nest on cliffs with sand and gravel, the Cathedral provides the right environment for the falcons, albeit with an urban twist, said St. John. Sand and gravel are necessary for the falcons to dig a shallow “bowl” to prevent eggs from rolling away, so some was provided by the National Aviary when it was discovered Dorothy and her previous partner, Erie, had nested there, St. John said.
Dan Brauning, the Wildlife Diversity Chief of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said the Pittsburgh environment is “suitable” for the falcons.
“To some degree they are successful in the urban setting because they avoid predation. The buildings and bridges have cliff-like resemblances. There are plenty of songbirds for food,” Brauning said.
The nest at Pitt has produced 29 fledglings since 2002, but Dorothy flew to Pittsburgh from Wisconsin in 2001, according to the National Aviary website.
Dorothy — who was named after a parking lot attendant who monitored falcons — hatched in Wisconsin in 1999. When she was about a year old, Dorothy flew to Pittsburgh. Because Dorothy had been banded after she hatched, the National Aviary was able to find out from where she had flown. Dorothy’s long journey is consistent with the nomadic tendencies of peregrine falcons.
“Peregrines wander. They don’t migrate. They go every which way,” St. John said.
In 2002, Dorothy first nested in Pittsburgh with her mate, Erie, who was identified from his band as coming from Columbus, Ohio. Erie, who made national news for fighting and killing a competing male falcon from Cleveland, mysteriously disappeared in October 2007.
Erin Estell, assistant director of Animal Programs at the National Aviary, said there are a number of different scenarios explaining the disappearance of Erie. E2 (short for Erie 2) could have fought off Erie, or Erie could have died, Estell said.
While peregrine falcons don’t necessarily mate for life, they will often mate with the same partner if both consenting individuals show up at the mating site during mating season. After the babies fly away, the adult falcons will migrate to different winter grounds.
Erie’s unexplained absence left Dorothy single, but she didn’t remain on the market for long.
“Dorothy doesn’t die of heart sickness. She finds another mate,” Estell said.
E2, who was hatched at the Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh, arrived on the scene in fall 2007, and in spring 2008, Dorothy began nesting with him. Three eggs nestled on top of the Cathedral mark the third time Dorothy and E2 have made a generous contribution to the peregrine population.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission and the National Aviary band eyases, or baby falcons, when they are around three to four weeks old. When eyases are banded depends on the size of the bird, Estell said. The people in charge of banding the eyases wait for the feet to be completely grown so that the band does not get too tight or fall off.
While it is possible to track falcons through the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s telemetry research study (available through the Pennsylvania Game Commission website), the bands serve as an identification and research tool, Brauning said.
Because of the bands, two falcons who hatched at the Cathedral have been located and identified by falcon watchers in the area. A female hatched in 2007 was last recorded at her own nesting site in Rochester, N.Y., last year. The second falcon, a male hatched in 2008, was spotted last December in Tarentum, Pa., according to Brauning and the National Aviary.
The peregrine falcon was removed from the national list of endangered species in 1999, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, but peregrine falcons remain a Pennsylvania Endangered Species. The banding of the falcons has helped monitor the birds, and while it does not directly contribute to the repopulation of peregrine falcons, it does serve as a tool, Brauning said. He also said the banning of DDT in 1972, a pesticide used on crops and forest lands, was a prerequisite to helping the falcons repopulate.
Now, Brauning says that the Pennsylvania Game Commission helps protect peregrines from human activity. Their numbers are still small, with only 1700 breeding pairs in the U.S. and Canada, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Peregrine falcons can be found on all places of the earth except Antarctica; in addition to the Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh has other nesting locations at the Gulf Tower in Downtown, East Rochester-Monaca Bridge and 62nd Street Bridge, according to the National Aviary website.
Although Dorothy and E2 have been exposed to humans since birth, St. John stresses that these birds are not pets.
“They do not like people. They will attack anyone who messes with their nest,” St. John said. “But, they will put up with people being around.”
While the urban environment does provide certain amenities — like an unlimited supply of pigeons to eat — there are certain dangers in Pittsburgh that don’t exist in a falcon’s natural habitat.
One of the most common ways for falcons to die is to collide with window panes, Brauning said. In June 2008, a Pittsburgh falcon crashed into the Rand Building and broke his neck, according to a previous article in The Pitt News.
People can watch live video of the famous lovers in their nest on The National Aviary’s website. St. John writes about the peregrines in her blog, Outside My Window, which is on the WQED website.
The typical mating season of peregrines lasts from late March through May, according to Defenders of Wildlife. The average nest usually has three to four eggs, which will hatch after about 30 days of gestation.
|
|
|
|
|
23125
|
Member Activities / Birthdays / Re: Happy Birthday Lou
|
on: 18-Mar-10, 08:05:00 PM
|
|
Re: Happy Birthday Lou
A very happy birthday and many happy returns. Thank you for the pleasure your photographs have given me -- and all of us.
Mary in Charlotte
This was on the Yahoo board. Figured I'd post it for Lou here.
|
|
|
|
|
23127
|
Anything Else / Totally OT / Re: How come we have no chats anymore?
|
on: 18-Mar-10, 02:30:15 PM
|
Maybe I'm looking at this in a different way, but why does anyone feel that they have to be invited to chat? All you have to do is click the button. I think the invite thing is a leftover habit from the last version of "chat" on yahoo...you had to be invited through yahoo messenger to get in...and now we're just getting used to a new way. Probably a good idea to just post a note that you're going to be in chat until we get into the swing of things... Someone has to go in first for others to see that someone's in chat. I think it's making that first move. Just do it, they will come.  |
|
|
|
|
23129
|
Rochester Falcons / Falcon Watches / Re: Falcons of a Smaller Size - 3/17/10
|
on: 18-Mar-10, 08:19:16 AM
|
One other thing to add from yesterday. After I left Dan on the bridge after the noon hour watch, he said that a Red-tailed Hawk was flushed from under the bridge by Crows. It flew around the gorge, eventually landing on the east side gorge wall. Dan said it looked like the RTH was wrestling with something. Dan took a closer look and saw that the RTH caught a snake! After awhile, the RTH took the snake in his beak and swallowed it whole. Now that had to be something to see!  I would have fainted. (sssss), not my FAV... |
|
|
|
|
Loading...
|
|
Show Posts
Beauty
