New Peregrine cam in Australia

[Donna]

Bev on BCAW captured this video of mom and dad flying to the trees just out in front. Maybe Aspro is in one of them. Dad comes in with food, looks around then Swift comes and takes the food......maybe to Aspro?? Great capture!!!

http://youtu.be/CnbUNy6H40g


This is the tree they flew to!! Would be awesome!!!

[Carol P.]

Sure hope Aspro is ok.  

It reminds me of Chessie's (at Central Terminal/Buffalo) premature fledge.  She was flapping her wings and a huge gust of wind took her (like Tesh!) off the nest box.  She ended up in a tree.  It took us hours to find her.  She never vocalized once.  When we did find her, she was checked over and we were given the ok to return her to the nest box.

[Donna]

No actual news as yet.  I’ve been looking at the tapes and have noticed when the adults have left with food (a good sign) and tried to focus on that area when we have been out searching.   But the adult birds, despite clearly seeing me/us have not made a pipsqueak (a bad sign).     I have spent hours walking right around the campus on my own and with friends and colleagues (even bringing in my dogs last night (on leads, of course), which I thought provoke the adults into attacking, but they scarcely turned a hair.

Going through the tapes of Saturday when the accident happened, I noticed that Aspro had a good feed (perhaps an eastern rosella) an hour beforehand and during that day there were several periods of  major strong wingflaps around the box (another good sign).

I was also able to catch Aspro standing right on the ledge so I could measure her and she is definitely a she, almost as tall as Swift, but much slighter, of course.

Again, thanks to those who have sent words of encouragement (and particularly to Yvonne for the tape of one of the exits).   I apologise for not doing an update yesterday as promised, but I had nothing but bad news to report and was hoping that looking at more of the exits and landings might help.

 

[patsy6]

Oh, poor Aspro!  I do hope that her parents know where she is.   

[Donna]

Nov. 21

Thanks to all those who have sent video etc.  I do actually have access to these through our recording video, but can’t see any clear pattern as to direction of exit flights, especially those with food.  Often the bird has gone to the roost tree, and in at least one case, the adult has come back to the nest box to finish the food.  This is clearly not a good sign.

But I haven’t abandoned all hope.   If Aspro is still alive and well, she should be flying by now (43 days old), or at least being more active, and there should be more obvious signs.

I’m going out now for a scout about and will be around over the weekend as well to have a look and a listen.

Nov. 22

I’ve gone painstakingly through all the tapes since the ‘tumble’ and apart from the first two days, there has been a distinct drop in activity.  The last food brought into the box by Beau was (as far as I have been able to tell) on 17th November.  This was taken by Swift up into the roost tree opposite.  She then returned with some of the prey still intact three minutes later and then ate it.  This doesn’t look a bird who is feeding a youngster, so that doesn’t look good.   Since then Swift has spent most of the time in the box, about half that time on the ledge, and the rest in the box asleep (or having a yawn, see below) with an occasional swap with Beau, presumably so she can hunt.  It’s not impossible that they are still feeding Aspro, but I don’t think it is very likely at this stage.   However, I am very happy to be proven wrong and will still keep searching during this coming week, but can’t come in tomorrow (singing with our choir in the cathedral).
The lack of chivvying as we search has been worrying from the start, but I was hoping that the youngster had somehow ended up some distance away and was gradually finding its way back (and that still is a possibility).

chiv·vy or chiv·y  (chv)
v. chiv·vied or chiv·ied, chiv·vy·ing or chiv·y·ing, chiv·vies or chiv·ies
v.tr.
1. To vex or harass with petty attacks: political opponents who chivvied the senator.
2. To maneuver or secure gradually: "had spent two weeks chivvying this division toward combat readiness" (Tom Clancy).
v.intr.
To scurry.
n. pl. chiv·vies or chiv·ies
1. A hunt or chase.
2. A hunting cry.

[MAK]

Doesn't sound good for little Aspro. 

[PatriciaRose]

I can't even bear to read the updates anymore....

[patsy6]

Makes me realize how lucky we were with Tesh and her accidental fledge this past year.  It's amazing that instinct took over and guided her to that awning on the Telesca Building instead of to the middle of Exchange St., and two hours later strength and guts carried her off the awning, down Main Street, over the Canandaigua National Bank Building and onto the sill at Thomson Reuters.  Beauty then found her and perched just above Tesh on Mercury all night, watching over her while keeping an eye on the others in the nestbox as well.  The next day Tesh summoned the courage and strength to find her way home. 

Tesh was older than Aspro when she fell out, and she was definitely ready to go.  That having been said, like Ei, I don't believe that any falcon has died until his or her body is found.  I choose to believe that young Aspro is out there somewhere learning the skies and learning her flying and hunting skills. 

[Donna]

Dec. 2   

A new supporter to FalconCam Project website, Josie, wrote us a letter today with an interesting point to make. Why not construct a perch outside the window, and some other method to safeguard the eyases from falling?……. Josie, thanks for your email. It’s indeed something we looked at a while back as the adults would use it as well, but logistics counted against it at the time. Currently there’s an existing small ledge which has been handy over the years in keeping the younger ones away from danger. We’ll certainly look at it again though. Aspro was the first fledgling that we’ve ever lost. Between Cilla, myself, and a number of volunteer helpers, we’ve combed every inch of the vast agricultural Orange campus without even a sign of feathers. Aspro went early too and caught us on the hop, so to speak. It’s hard to believe that there’s just not any sign at all. The wind was strong that evening and had a big part to play in Aspro’s early dive. In years past we’ve watched as most of the fledglings have glided out safely on to the soft grassy landing below, albeit with one or two bumps on the way down!

In comparison Beau and Swift and their offspring are pretty lucky with their “Concrete Hilton� eyrie. It’s 100% vermin-proof, sheltered from the worst of the prevailing weather, a stable platform and provides a superb view for them across most of Orange city and surrounds to monitor their hunting grounds. From our perspective it’s perfect as we have brilliant (but very high) access to the box itself, 50 metres up the campus water tower – the envy of many other similar projects around the world. Out in the wild the successful fledging rate is much lower than what we’ve observed so far too, so we’re riding on a pretty good thing.

Off-season we’re going to undertake a fair amount of eyrie and camera maintenance, as well as testing new technology to make the camera streams more browser and device friendly. For example, the Flash technology that we use won’t play on more recent Apple or Android devices. The cameras will probably be down for a few days during anticipated water tower repairs too, but we’re assured we’ll be given plenty of notice beforehand. Lots to do before next season, but Cilla assures me that she’s absorbed enough data now to be able to write some papers (there’s pressure for you, Cilla!).

Thanks again Josie, for bringing up some really good points. Taken on board…

Jeeze, I wonder what happened to her? How very sad!

[MAK]

I can't understand how Aspro could disappear without a trace. 

[Carol P.]

So sad.  A similar thing happened in Burlington (Ontario, Canada) this year.   

[patsy6]

Apparently Swift and Beau have been displaced from their nestbox at Charles Sturt University.  That is sad.  I so hoped they could have a successful clutch there after their many struggles.    

Welcome Diamond (female) and Bula (male)!

Published 24 July, 2015 | By Cilla Kinross
Reliable observers around campus have informed me that our couple are now officially ‘joined’.  As with Beau and Swift, this occurred right on the top of the water tower (where we don’t have a camera, alas), which is interesting as few birds are so obvious in their intimate behaviour!

Diamond has been doing some scraping, sometimes in our ‘usual’ scrape, but often all over the box, including in some areas out of view of the cameras (oh, no, PLEASE, don’t do that to me!).

Bula has been doing the right thing and bringing in lots of choice food items.  Unfortunately, these are usually plucked and half-eaten prior to their arrival in the nestbox in a pretty sorry state, so I haven’t got ANY identification (but lots of probably useless photos).

The snow has all gone, except up the mountain and the weather is cool and rainy, with foggy mornings.  Clearly this doesn’t hamper their hunting ability.

Expect the next few weeks to be very busy, with lots of food bringing and scraping and straining, before hopefully some nice healthy eggs in August.

[patsy6]

Here are some amazing shots of a sulphur-crested cockatoo attacking Beau at the nestbox back in April. 

[patsy6]

The new female, Diamond, is asleep at the nest ledge right now.  Perhaps a sign that an egg is imminent?  

[patsy6]

Links to the Orange NSW Falconcam Project:

main site: http://falconcamproject.org/
ledge cam: http://www.csu.edu.au/special/falconcam/Streams/camera-two.htm
nest cam:  http://www.csu.edu.au/special/falconcam/Streams/camera-one.htm

No eggs yet, but Diamond (new female) is spending more and more time at the nestbox, and she sleeps there most nights. 

Published 24 August, 2015 | By Cilla Kinross

Bula seems to be getting the hang of things, realising it is his job to hand over the prey items to Diamond and he has been doing that, sometimes up to three times a day (and sometimes having a good chew beforehand, making identification difficult).

When I have been able to discern species, it has been mainly starlings (local pest, so good news), plus at least two red-rumped parrots, a possible pigeon or two and some tiny birds, probably spotted and/or striated pardalotes.  The latter were a bit of a surprise as they are barely a snack.   They flit around the canopies of the tall eucalypts looking for insects on the flowers, so are a bit vulnerable.

I haven’t seen any more copulation, but if the ones observed were successful, we should have had eggs by yesterday.   I guess we just have to be patient;  all the signs are good.  Plenty of scraping and perhaps even some ‘straining’.  Diamond was a bit impatient with Bula and even a tad aggressive recently.

I’m tied up with a field ecology residential for the next three days (including early mornings bird-watching and evening spotlighting), so I am just hoping that, if an egg does arrive, it waits until Friday as I’ll be too bushed at night to monitor the webcam!

Thanks to those who are making comments and/or sending emails.  Keep it up.  It’s great to know people are interested enough not just to watch, but also provide feedback.

The week after next a tour from the NSW Landcare conference will be travelling to our university to look at the new Aboriginal Nature and Bioscience Park, see the revegetation works on our farm,  as well as visit the Peregrine Project, so Scott and I will be giving a talk and providing scopes and binoculars for close viewing.   I’ll let you know how it goes.