~Buffalo Falcon News 2010~

[Donna]

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/live/2010/05/ub-webcam-captures-falcon-life.html 

Sage, did you see this? Scroll to the end, they have a voice recorder of how the nest came about. Pretty cool! 

[~Sage~]

Wow! Very cool!  Thanks Donna...I would have missed it if you hadn't alerted me to it. 

[Ron K]

There is a pair of falcons in Buffalo that have just hatched 3 chics.   In a picture one adult is banned just wondering if there is a chance of them being  offspring of Karver and Mariah?

here is the link:  http://www.buffalo.edu/webcam/falconcam.html

[Kris G.]

There is a pair of falcons in Buffalo that have just hatched 3 chics.   In a picture one adult is banned just wondering if there is a chance of them being  offspring of Karver and Mariah?

here is the link:  http://www.buffalo.edu/webcam/falconcam.html

They aren't related to Mariah and Kaver but if you want to read more about all the Buffalo Falcons, go to the Forum Home Page then to Raptor Webcams where you'll find the topic Buffalo Falcon News 2010.

[Shaky]

Thanks for asking, Ron, and congratulations on your first post!

[~Sage~]

   UB falconcam now Live Streaming Video!

[Donna]

Buffalo's latest reality stars are a pair of peregrine falcons being viewed over the Web, as they nest on a chimney stack high above the University at Buffalo South Campus.

UB installed a small camera atop the 135-foot smokestack at the Mackay Heating Plant, where the endangered species first showed up three years ago.

Viewers are logging onto the webcam, which refreshes every six seconds, to follow UB's two resident peregrines, BB and Yankee.

It's a regular soap opera.

You want drama?

How about Tuesday, when viewers saw the couple's three chicks hatch.

You want scandal?

How about when BB's mate from last year returned to the nest to find he had been replaced.

"The camera helps us tremendously to be able to watch the progress of the nest," said Mark Kandel, a regional wildlife manager with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which is responsible for protecting and managing peregrine falcons.

"But probably equally as important, or more so, is for the public to enjoy the birds," Kandel said. "It's a tremendous educational tool at all levels."

A falcon cam had been installed at the top of the Statler building, which for years has been a nesting ground for what were the only two peregrines known in these parts.

But that webcam was shut down when the Statler was, so the DEC asked UB to consider installing a camera at the Mackay Plant, where a man-made nesting box had been placed after peregrines were first spotted there in 2008.

UB was happy to oblige, installing the camera in March.


"It's a real popular site," said Al Gilewicz, UB's assistant director of utility operations. "It's a great resource for Western New York, and the university is part of Western New York and should do things like this."

Four chicks — Kevin, Tori, Athos and Zephyr — hatched when two peregrines returned to UB last spring, Gilewicz said.

But when BB arrived at the nest this season, observers discovered she had linked up with a different male — Yankee.

After she produced three eggs, last year's male, Smokey, returned.

He wasn't happy.

There was a big fight, but in the end, Yankee, showed the old beau the door.

It's actually a good sign for the recovery of peregrines, said Connie Adams, a wildlife biologist with the DEC.

"You have more peregrines than you do nests, which leads to fights," Adams said.

And all the action was caught on the webcam.

One of the eggs broke during the lovers' quarrel, but BB soon laid another, Gilewicz said.

"Over the last couple [of] weeks, people were wondering when they were going to hatch," Gilewicz said, "and it happened early this week."

Once again, the webcam captured the moment.

In a few weeks, when the three little peregrines are a little older, someone from the DEC will climb to the top of the UB chimney and band the chicks to help track them once they leave the nest.

They are amazing birds, Kandel said.

When a peregrine falcon locks in on its prey — other birds — it dives in the sky at speeds in excess of 100 mph and uses its talons to stun its prey or pluck it out of midair, Kandel said.

"I've only actually seen it happen twice in all these years," Kandel said, "but it's really something dramatic to see."

And while peregrine falcons are still on the endangered species list in New York, they are making a comeback.

In 1965, there were no peregrines nesting in New York, but after many years of preservationists protecting the birds and hatching eggs while in captivity, there are now more than 60 nests around the state, Kandel said.

While the birds are known to make their homes on high cliffs and peaks, the peregrine falcons have fast become urban dwellers, as they have taken a liking to tall city buildings and structures.

There are several in the Buffalo area now, Kandel said.

Besides the pairs at UB and the Statler, there is a pair each in the Niagara Gorge, the Central Terminal and an old grain elevator along the Buffalo waterfront, as well as two pairs nesting under the Grand Island bridges, Kandel said.

Adams just heard about a pair at the Park Lane condominiums on Gates Circle.

Kandel said the federal government has taken the peregrine falcon off the endangered list, because of the growing numbers around the nation, particularly in the West.

"It's been a long road," Kandel said. "This recovery project has been going on for over 30 years, and for about 12 or 13 years, we've had just the pair in Buffalo. Now, they're starting to mushroom."

[Donna]

  UB falconcam now Live Streaming Video!

SWEET!! 

[~Sage~]

Post 97 shows the Park Lane/Gates Circle Pefas    

When checking Statler from the Rand building, our scope, binocs and cameras result in conversations in the elevator.  Roger was explaining what we were doing to a business owner who then told us about the pefas on his roof!   We thought, peregrines on his roof?  He told us where he lived and we went to look, the building was 9 stories high, but.............  So a few emails back and forth and he sent us three pix!  That convinced us!  I sent the pix on to Connie who is now as excited as we are!  The earlier pic of a juvie pefa on a 9th fl windowsill was taken not far from the Park Lane at the Westbrook.

There is a lot of thunder and lightning with this bad storm right now in Buffalo and the UB nestbox is lighting up like crazy!     Weather expected to be bad tomorrow too.  It's a scary storm and it's hitting Rochester now.  There's more to come..hang on!

[Joyce]

Donna - That's a very well written article!  Where did it come from?  Is Mark Kandel in Avon NY?  Is he connected with the Rochester Pefas as well?

Sage - Wow, so much happening in Buffalo.  Buffalo really needs a local falconwatcher group like we have in Rochester and in Syracuse.  They only have the one nestsite too, which now has 4 chicks.

Love the streaming video - but how do we capture the images we want to save?  Your albums of the images are great to have.

~Joyce

[Donna]

Donna - That's a very well written article!  Where did it come from?  Is Mark Kandel in Avon NY?  Is he connected with the Rochester Pefas as well?

Sage - Wow, so much happening in Buffalo.  Buffalo really needs a local falconwatcher group like we have in Rochester and in Syracuse.  They only have the one nestsite too, which now has 4 chicks.

Love the streaming video - but how do we capture the images we want to save?  Your albums of the images are great to have.

~Joyce

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/05/07/1042885/falcons-soar-in-soap-opera-at.html  Joyce here's the original article.

[~Sage~]

Joyce, thanks!     Mark Kandel is at the Buffalo DEC office, Region 9, which extends to the PA line but not as far east as Rochester.

And yes, keeping up with all that's happening here keeps Roger and I very busy as we often hit 4 or more sites a day, but he loves to drive, loves the pefas too, and we both always have our cameras.  It would be so much easier if there were cams covering most of the sites!  Most of these places we don't even have access to.  Besides watching the sites we know about, we track down verbal reports too.  Then we send documentation to Connie. 

I'm trying to keep up better with the Picasa Web Albums, so thanks for looking!  That gives me encouragement.    My time at home and at the laptop consists of watching cams, reading reports on forums, cropping/editing the day's pix, trying to keep up with my 3 blogs, Rochesters forum, and a couple others, then other sites, FB, Wildlife Gardeners, Buffalo blogs...

I find I cannot get screencaps off the streaming feed on IE, but I can from Firefox.  Try that and I'll try to find out how to get them with IE.

Now...I have a couple questions raised by just watching our cam.  Not positive but I think it was Yankee.  They sometimes bring fresh kill, undressed, into the nest and I'm sure you've seen feathers strewn everywhere.  When he pulled apart the prey to feed the eyasses, he would sometimes just eat a big chunk, feathers and all. 

How normal is this and are they apt to expel the pellets directly under the nest or farther away?

The other question regards how he moved the chicks, by grabbing the back of they eyas's neck in his mouth, lifting the eyass and moving it to the other side of the pile.   Like a cat would move a kitten.   I never saw this before!

Is this normal or unusual?

[Dumpsterkitty]

The other question regards how he moved the chicks, by grabbing the back of they eyas's neck in his mouth, lifting the eyass and moving it to the other side of the pile.   Like a cat would move a kitten.   I never saw this before!

Is this normal or unusual?

I don't know about normal, but I have seen that once.  In 2006 when Mariah was injured we lost 2 eyases shortly after hatching.  At one point one of them had crawled away from the pile and Kaver picked it up like that and put it back in the pile, but it died shortly after.

Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong at UB...they might do it regularly & we just don't see it...

[Donna]

The other question regards how he moved the chicks, by grabbing the back of they eyas's neck in his mouth, lifting the eyass and moving it to the other side of the pile.   Like a cat would move a kitten.   I never saw this before!

Is this normal or unusual?

I don't know about normal, but I have seen that once.  In 2006 when Mariah was injured we lost 2 eyases shortly after hatching.  At one point one of them had crawled away from the pile and Kaver picked it up like that and put it back in the pile, but it died shortly after.

Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong at UB...they might do it regularly & we just don't see it...

Ei, didn't he also fly off and moved an Eyas to the front of the nest box? Remember we were all shocked and it was pouring and the baby was getting soaked? Oy....what day. I'll never forget.

[Dumpsterkitty]

I don't know about normal, but I have seen that once.  In 2006 when Mariah was injured we lost 2 eyases shortly after hatching.  At one point one of them had crawled away from the pile and Kaver picked it up like that and put it back in the pile, but it died shortly after.

Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong at UB...they might do it regularly & we just don't see it...

Ei, didn't he also fly off and moved an Eyas to the front of the nest box? Remember we were all shocked and it was pouring and the baby was getting soaked? Oy....what day. I'll never forget.

Yes, that was an awful day. But as sad as it was, Kaver did an outstanding job that year. For those new here, Rhea Mae was one of the 3 that made it.



And "Sabrina" who turned out to be a tiercel...last seen nesting in Ogdensburgh (if I recall correctly).