I am so very sorry to read about the loss of little Orion. Each one of these beautiful birds is so important; I love to watch them, and I hate to lose any one of them.

I hope we will some day hear good news of Rochester's handsome Orion.

[May 20, 2013 - Morning Update]

That is so sweet that they've accepted it and are taking such good care of the little one.  Good decision!

I agree completely.

A new update on the site today:

May 20, 2013 - Morning Update

Staff, along with division volunteers and dedicated falcon observers Mike Girone and Bonnie Talluto, have been closely monitoring the webcam since the chick swap on Friday afternoon. While the chick transported to The Raptor Trust did not appear healthy, the Sea Isle City chick is behaving normally, feeding well and most importantly, has been accepted by the adults. Both adults are staying close to the nestbox, brooding the chick during the cool damp weekend and providing plenty of food. We're waiting for an update on the condition of the original chick, but it does appear to have some serious issues.

Hopefully the drama of the past week is behind us as we watch the new chick grow. We'll determine its sex the first week of June when biologists return to Jersey City to examine and band it. Meanwhile, we'll keep watching.

I am still hoping that The Raptor Trust will be able to help the little sick one.

A little while ago, the chick was uncovered briefly. Pics are cropped because of extraneous information which is appearing on the live stream.





I am happy for Guinevere and her new mate, but I do miss the great Zephyr. He was one of a kind.

Looking very proud of the three chicks:

Wonderful series of pictures Alison!  Thanks so much!

Look!  There's a little Hammie in the last picture!   

Thank you, Carol P.! I had to include the last pic for the little face - I remember Hammie/Destiny so well from 2003!

A feeding this afternoon:

Food was brought in and the little chick was fed:



Looks as if he/she has a nice full crop:



I hope to hear good news of the little chick who is ill.

No updates have been posted so far on Nestbox News.

Athena has continued to brood the new little chick:

I hope The Raptor Trust will be able to help the sick little chick. He/she looked very bad last night:











I am very glad that an attempt is being made to help this little one, and also that Athena and Six have been given a foster chick. Athena was brooding the chick off and on during the day, and the last pic I saw from this evening showed her back in the nest brooding the chick.

One more pic of DC from earlier this evening:

Many, many thanks to all the watchers for everything you do, and for all the long hours you dedicate to watching over these beautiful birds. I, for one, appreciate it very much.

Thank you also to everyone for all the updates and great pics.

I am so happy to see DC back at the nest, and looking really good. I hope he is not injured, and that UT is also okay and will find a nest site of his own.

The chick has been outside the nest for most of the day, and apparently is not being fed. Durand returned to incubating the unhatched eggs. Not a good situation; I hope Donna or someone else in Columbus is monitoring the situation and will help if necessary.

I captured a picture a little while ago and was playing around with it.  Definitely an egg left and there appears to be a pip at the end of it.  I am hoping there will be a 4th eyas soon.

I hope so too!

[Dead falcon chicks recovered from the nest]

It is so very sad to lose all three chicks so suddenly. Poor little ones. Sounds as if it could have been a toxin of some kind, or perhaps both parents were gone from the nest for an extended period of time for some reason. The chicks would have been much too young to be able to thermoregulate.

The nest is at Worms Cathedral in Germany. Don't know if it helps any, but this is my translation of the German.

Dead falcon chicks recovered from the nest

13.05.2013 - For reasons as yet unknown, all three peregrine chicks died within a few hours. On Saturday, NABU members recovered the lifeless bodies from the nest high up in a tower at Worms Cathedral. The bodies will now be examined.

What happened?

Why does the webcam image show an empty nest? Where did the falcon chicks go? What happened? Were the little ones attacked by a feathered predator, as happened last year? Or could it be that poisoned food, such as a dove, may be to blame for the death of the falcon chicks? This question is being asked by followers of the peregrine webcam by e-mail and on the Internet.

The sad news: All three chicks are dead. As Dr. Kienzl of NABU reports, they "died unexpectedly within half a day." Along with another member of NABU, Klaus Rupprecht, he removed the dead chicks from the nest box on Saturday morning. For a detailed investigation into the cause of death, the lifeless bodies were packed in plastic bags, frozen and stored. "We are in contact with the leading experts in Germany on peregrine falcons," says Dr. Kienzl. During the removal of the chicks' bodies, the two peregrine parents circled the Cathedral towers, screaming violently, and then watched the sad event from the tower of the Trinity Church.

During the next few days we will discontinue the live feed on instructions from Ofen-Horn, who had been showing live streaming video from the nest.