Two weeks on the wing and the juvies are all doing well.  Check out http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/two-weeks-on-the-wing/ for some great photos of all three.

 

 
 

I just ROCked it too!  Goodnight!

Thanks, Shaky!   

I just ordered mine.  It looks great!  Thanks for all of your work, Carol, Dana and Lou.  And thanks for choosing my favorite main cam still of the year for my birthday month (July).  It's the one of all four of the eyases intently watching someone flying. 

By the way, if you ever want to get an off-season live-webcam-pefa-in-the-nestbox fix, tune into http://www.csu.edu.au/special/falconcam/Streams/camera-two.htm any morning through mid-afternoon (US Eastern Standard Time).  It will be nighttime in Australia, and Diamond spends every night year 'round in the nestbox.  She's sleeping, of course, and the camera is on night view, but it's still nice to see an occupied nestbox. 

There's a juvie in the nestbox right now, screaming up a storm and often looking up in the sky.  I think somebody's flying close by.  It looks small to me, so it could be Vim.  He probably wants his dinner.

Diamond has been such an awesome mom to these three, what with losing Bula at hatch time, then having to fend off a suitor or two before finally settling on Xavier.  He hasn't been super-attentive, but at least he hasn't tried to harm the kids.  He actually seemed a bit afraid of them and her at first.

 

Pigott's tough.  If she was in a battle, she may have a few less feathers, but she'll be okay.  She's experienced. 

  

If everything goes well, the female will build a nest high in a tree, anywhere from 40 ft to 100 ft in the air, where she will lay her eggs. She will incubate the eggs, and raise the chicks, entirely on her own. Meanwhile, the male remains at his bower and attempts to attract the next female . . .

                    

What the!!  

Typical pretty boy -- so shallow with his showy trinkets. Ladies, stick with the guy who brings you breakfast, lunch, and dinner and isn't afraid to get his big yellow feet dirty digging in the gravel.

I'll bet Dot.ca would tell this guy to straighten up and fly right!

Apparently it was Vim who returned home to the nestbox for a feed yesterday.  He stayed for a while, too.  Meanwhile, there are some great pictures of the newly fledged juvies at http://falconcamproject.org/.  They haven't spotted Rubi in several days, but Cilla is confident that mom Diamond knows where she is, and that she'll turn up soon. 

Poor little chick.    That is a lovely yet rather sad photo of Emily. 

Confirming Alison's observation:

No. 2 male Vim departs
Published 17 November, 2016 | By Cilla Kinross
Here is Vim’s much better departure.    I can see roughly in which direction he headed, but of course, not how far he has travelled, but I’ll go and have a look for both of the them and report back.

Vim spotted
Published 17 November, 2016 | By Cilla Kinross
A colleague saw Vim on the hand-rail and watched him fly to a bush not far from my office, so his first flight was much shorter than I anticipated, but he’s fine.

First flight
Published 16 November, 2016 | By Cilla Kinross
I just got in ……One is off, I’m guessing Rubi.

Not a very elegant departure, so I’ll go and have a look around shortly.   Not very elegant photos, either, such mucky pups!


And later:

At the time of writing, still two in the tower and one in the bushes.  And thanks to Denis and Tiffany for helping me locate the wayward Rubi.