New Peregrine cam in Australia

[PatriciaRose]

Well it wasn't Beau's fault this time-guess she must have noticed something wrong with the egg...blessings to the remaining eggs 

[Kris G.]

Posted update:

http://falconcamproject.org/

[Donna]

Fingers crossed for the 2 remaining eggs!!

[PatriciaRose]

Seems like things are settling in with Swift & Beau, taking turns with the 2 eggs.  Hopefully this means that all is well with both!

[Kris G.]

Postings on webcam blog:

broken egg retrieved
Published 19 September, 2014 | By Cilla Kinross
I went up to collect the broken egg today and caused some disturbance, so the remaining eggs were uncovered for about 25 minutes. Will get back to you with results on egg thickness as soon as possible.

egg shell thickness
Published 19 September, 2014 | By Cilla Kinross
I took 20 measurements of the egg using calipers on the broken edges to try and avoid the curve and the average was 0.31 mm (standard deviation of 0.02).

According to USGS Biological and Ecotoxicological Characteristics of Terrestrial Vertebrate Species Residing in Estuaries ‘Peregrine Falcon’ pre DDT shell thickness is generally around 0. 35-36 and post DDT it dropped by 10-22 % to 0.27-0.29.

So our Swift’s eggs would seem to be quite thin.  This may reflect the high percentage of starlings and pigeons in their diet as contaminants tend to accumulate particularly strongly in these species.

I’ll see what it costs to have the eggshell (which is now in pieces) tested for contaminants.

Comments are welcome.

[PatriciaRose]

Postings on webcam blog:

broken egg retrieved
Published 19 September, 2014 | By Cilla Kinross
I went up to collect the broken egg today and caused some disturbance, so the remaining eggs were uncovered for about 25 minutes. Will get back to you with results on egg thickness as soon as possible.

egg shell thickness
Published 19 September, 2014 | By Cilla Kinross
I took 20 measurements of the egg using calipers on the broken edges to try and avoid the curve and the average was 0.31 mm (standard deviation of 0.02).

According to USGS Biological and Ecotoxicological Characteristics of Terrestrial Vertebrate Species Residing in Estuaries ‘Peregrine Falcon’ pre DDT shell thickness is generally around 0. 35-36 and post DDT it dropped by 10-22 % to 0.27-0.29.

So our Swift’s eggs would seem to be quite thin.  This may reflect the high percentage of starlings and pigeons in their diet as contaminants tend to accumulate particularly strongly in these species.

I’ll see what it costs to have the eggshell (which is now in pieces) tested for contaminants.

Comments are welcome.

Seems strange they did fine with their eggs previous to last year, could they be using DDT again in this part of Australia?  Or is it just the age of Swift?  Hope it's not too expensive to test for contaminants, because this would definitely answer the question!  Praying the remaining 2 eggs have a bit thicker shell!

[patsy6]

Also praying that having other two eggs be uncovered for 25 minutes didn't cause any harm. 

[Donna]

First of all, why would they even go up to retrieve the egg during nesting?? They wonder why Swift was off the eggs for 25 minutes!! Don't they understand, it's not a good idea to go up there at all??? 

[Kris G.]

Postings on webcam blog:

broken egg retrieved
Published 19 September, 2014 | By Cilla Kinross
I went up to collect the broken egg today and caused some disturbance, so the remaining eggs were uncovered for about 25 minutes. Will get back to you with results on egg thickness as soon as possible.

egg shell thickness
Published 19 September, 2014 | By Cilla Kinross
I took 20 measurements of the egg using calipers on the broken edges to try and avoid the curve and the average was 0.31 mm (standard deviation of 0.02).

According to USGS Biological and Ecotoxicological Characteristics of Terrestrial Vertebrate Species Residing in Estuaries ‘Peregrine Falcon’ pre DDT shell thickness is generally around 0. 35-36 and post DDT it dropped by 10-22 % to 0.27-0.29.

So our Swift’s eggs would seem to be quite thin.  This may reflect the high percentage of starlings and pigeons in their diet as contaminants tend to accumulate particularly strongly in these species.

I’ll see what it costs to have the eggshell (which is now in pieces) tested for contaminants.

Comments are welcome.

Seems strange they did fine with their eggs previous to last year, could they be using DDT again in this part of Australia?  Or is it just the age of Swift?  Hope it's not too expensive to test for contaminants, because this would definitely answer the question!  Praying the remaining 2 eggs have a bit thicker shell!

Interesting read on DDT:

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/10/09/2054547.htm

[patsy6]

My thoughts exactly, Donna.  And thanks for the article, Kris.  I didn't realize that DDT wasn't banned in Australia until 1987, several years after it was banned here in the US. 

[MAK]

First of all, why would they even go up to retrieve the egg during nesting?? They wonder why Swift was off the eggs for 25 minutes!! Don't they understand, it's not a good idea to go up there at all??? 

The eggs are probably ok uncovered for 25 minutes depending on the air temperature at the nest sight. People just don't think sometimes! 

[Kris G.]

My thoughts exactly, Donna.  And thanks for the article, Kris.  I didn't realize that DDT wasn't banned in Australia until 1987, several years after it was banned here in the US. 

I didn't realize they banned it that many years after we did either plus the half-life of DDT was quite surprising!

[PatriciaRose]

Interesting article, Kris, thanks for sharing!  I didn't think they would go up after the shell either, but they must really want to know, to disturb Swift like that. That Cilla must be a very brave person-not sure I would want to upset a nesting pefa! 

[Dumpsterkitty]

My thoughts exactly, Donna.  And thanks for the article, Kris.  I didn't realize that DDT wasn't banned in Australia until 1987, several years after it was banned here in the US. 

I didn't realize they banned it that many years after we did either plus the half-life of DDT was quite surprising!

I seem to recall a discussion of this last year. And I wonder if there has been any research into whether DDT could be stored in the polar ice that's melting...

[Kris G.]

My thoughts exactly, Donna.  And thanks for the article, Kris.  I didn't realize that DDT wasn't banned in Australia until 1987, several years after it was banned here in the US. 

I didn't realize they banned it that many years after we did either plus the half-life of DDT was quite surprising!

I seem to recall a discussion of this last year. And I wonder if there has been any research into whether DDT could be stored in the polar ice that's melting...

http://www.geotimes.org/aug08/article.html?id=nn_glaciers.html