By the end of the month, Delaware residents and the rest of the world will be able to log on to to the Delmarva Ornithological Society's Web site, click on a link and see what's up with Wilmington's pair of peregrine falcons.
The society and DuPont Co.'s Clear into the Future Program partnered to install a real-time camera in the peregrine nesting box on the Brandywine Building in downtown Wilmington. In addition, the company provided money for six months of web hosting for a total package of $6,000.
The site will launch Feb. 22.
"Eventually, we hope to have a network of raptor cams," said Timothy Ireland, with DuPont's Clear into the Future program. "You'll be able to see the mating behavior. ... You'll really get insight into these magnificent birds."
But here's a warning from Bill Stewart, the ornithological society's conservation chair: "This is real life, and some of it may not be for the faint of heart."
So how bad can it be, you wonder. After all, these are birds.
Stewart relates this story about efforts to band the four chicks in last year's nest.
Stewart said he wanted to tape the process, and held his camera up to a peep hole on the backside of the nesting box.
All of a sudden, he said, it got very noisy as one adult squawked a warning that sounded like a car alarm. The next thing Stewart knew, one of the birds attacked the video camera.
Peregrines are one of nature's fastest birds of prey, and they easily can take down a pigeon.
So besides the courtship rituals, people also may see them feeding on their kill, laying eggs, rearing young and, by sometime in July, teaching the young to survive on their own.
The camera will be on 24-7, Stewart said. And because there is ambient light, it may be possible to see what they are doing even after hours, he said.
Last year, none of the four birds survived.
"Nobody knows why," Ireland said.
The webcam, besides increasing awareness about the birds, may also give scientists insights into the behaviors and allow them to see when things go wrong.
"We'll have a better sense of why it happens," Ireland said.
"We really want to bring a strong awareness that this type of bird calls Wilmington home," Stewart said.
Peregrines, like many other birds of prey, suffered significant population declines because of egg shell thinning caused by exposure to the pesticide DDT. But as the population has recovered, the birds have discovered urban settings like Wilmington.
"Here we are in Wilmington, and these birds of prey ... are really treating our buildings as cliff sides," Ireland said.
The birds have been in Wilmington for years. In 2002, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service installed the nesting box on the side of the Brandywine Building to provide a protected habitat.
Then, in 2008, Clear into the Future and the ornithological society teamed up to host evening events so people could watch and learn about the birds.
With the webcam, people can watch as the birds incubate and rear their young, Stewart said.
"People are going to get really excited when there are eggs and when the first one hatches," he said.
Stewart said organizers plan to launch the site, which will be up and running sometime this week, at a reception at the Wilmington Public Library on Feb. 25. The event is free and open to the public.
Photographs of the birds, taken by Kim Steiniger, will be on display. A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist plans to bring a live peregrine falcon
And once the camera goes live, Stewart said, "You can just sit there and watch."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0t_--17lkgWilmington adult attacking peephole.
