New Peregrine cam in Australia

[Kris G.]

Earlier post by Cilla-

Yes, you are right.  The third egg hatched at about 0306 h last night, so Diamond now has three mouths to feed, which she is still doing, amazingly.

At a quarter to six this evening, she brought in some prey, already prepared.   I suspect she hunted for this last prey herself as she was away over an hour, but something odd happened at lunch time today, when Diamond chased our new male  out and then came back with a scrap of prey just three and a half minutes later.  I can’t work this out as it would have taken much more time than that to hunt, kill, pluck and mostly eat this prey.   Perhaps she is so desperate that she’s taken road kill.  Or perhaps he had something in a cache and gave it to her (that’s what I’m hoping).

The other male is quite young; I think only 1 year old as he still has juvenile plumage.  (I’m toying with Xavier, not because it means anything, but because it sounds like Saviour in English, but is less pompous, but he’ll need to prove himself first!).  He doesn’t seem to realise that she wants him to bring prey to the box….

The reaction between Diamond and ‘himself’ has been interesting.  She has basically tolerated him unless he came into the box to start courtship behaviour, and then she became aggressive.

 
All three chicks were still alive at time of writing and just being fed.    And our new young chap hasn’t been seen since about half-past one.

Weather forecast is good for tomorrow and the weekend.  I have landcare/conservation commitments tomorrow morning, Saturday morning and all day Sunday, so flat chat, but will do my best to keep you up-to-date, although you seem to be managing quite well without us!



Video by Arjen

http://youtu.be/zjUeX9M-uhk

[Carol P.]

This new male, though young, sounds promising.   

[patsy6]

There's a second new adult male on the scene, and this one looks a bit more promising.  Definitely displaying courtship behavior.  Now let's hope the males don't do damage to each other trying to win Diamond's favor.  Don't want the guys fighting while she's saying "Uh, a little help here, please!" 

http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/new-adult-male-is-accepted/

[Kris G.]

There's a second new adult male on the scene, and this one looks a bit more promising.  Definitely displaying courtship behavior.  Now let's hope the males don't do damage to each other trying to win Diamond's favor.  Don't want the guys fighting while she's saying "Uh, a little help here, please!" 

http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/new-adult-male-is-accepted/

        They do say this is a prime spot!   

[Kris G.]

Video by Arjen-

http://youtu.be/JxDXUVXDSGk

[Kris G.]

He brought food!

http://youtu.be/qQfotLqQOhQ

[Carol P.]

 

[patsy6]

Awesome!!!!!

[patsy6]

I love how he is still a little hesitant around Diamond, like he knows she's in charge and she might bite his head off if he doesn't do exactly as he's told. 

[patsy6]

Chicks Becoming Mobile

Published 20 October, 2016 | By Cilla Kinross
As you’ve already observed (I’m a day behind you..), our youngsters are becoming much more mobile and brave, and our young suitor is being a bit more grown-up, with notable exceptions….

Xavier reverts to juvenile behaviour!
At one time, I started to kid myself that he was watching intently how Diamond fed the chicks, only to realise that he was just watching for a chance to grab a mouthful himself.

On one morning he brought in some ‘dressed’ prey, only to find Diamond still feeding, so, rather understandably, he took off again after waiting for a while.

Diamond has started bringing in unplucked prey (starling), which she roughly plucked in the box, then fed to the brood.  I think this was her catch as Xavier had been dawdling on the ledge.  I’ve just noticed that one of our brood fell over in astonishment!

Also she rarely succeeds now at ‘sitting’ on her chicks, but still tries occasionally.  Mostly now she stands over them, or uses the ledge at night, despite the chill air (we are still getting frosts).

I have to go back to Sydney on tomorrow afternoon’s train for a weekend conference/meeting.  I’ll try and catch up tomorrow, but it’s not likely as I have a morning of plant propagation, so have a good weekend and I’ll talk to you again on Monday.

[patsy6]

I was just watching the cam for a few minutes.  One was falling asleep, head falling slowly down, while another knocked the head back up.  This was repeated several times, while the third launched a perfectly aimed poop shot at mom.  Now they're all huddled in a pefa pile. Too cute!

[MAK]

It's great that they're successfully taking care of the babies. 

[patsy6]

It's great that they're successfully taking care of the babies. 

It is great.  Xavier (christened as such by Cilla, the project leader) isn't exactly a perfect savior, but he is not harming the chicks and I believe he brings them food sometimes, although he does not feed them.

[patsy6]

Rubi, Vim & Mell

Published 25 October, 2016 | By Cilla Kinross

These are the names that you chose.  They are shortened versions of the names of the eucalyptus in the wood opposite the nest site (Eucalyptus rubida, Eucalyptus viminalis and Eucalyptus melliodora).  And I like the names, but I still can’t tell them apart.  One has a ‘bloody spot’ on his/her chest.  Tiffany thought it might be a parasite as they were pecking at it, but I’m not sure; it could just be the remains of a rather bloody meal!

Let’s call that one Rubi.  And one appears to always be the first on the scene for tucker…perhaps Vim?

They are growing nicely, and trying their wings out.

There have been some concerns about the frequency of prey arrivals, but most of the prey are not insubstantial.  In the last couple of days I’ve recorded several pigeons, parrots (including the larger cockatoos), and waterbirds (possibly a swamphen) as well as starlings (which sometimes don’t actually get eaten…Just Xavier teasing).  The feeding times have varied between about 3 minutes (probably a honeyeater, just a snack, really) and over 40 minutes, when some of the chicks often wander off as they are so full.   Anyway, they seem to be putting on weight nicely.

I’ve noticed the chicks are increasingly much more likely to grab part of the meal and eat it themselves.  This incident with the leg ended well, but I thought it was going to choke him.

I still haven’t seen Xavier feeding the chicks, but he seems slightly less afraid of them now.  He knows they are not his, of course, or is that just my assumption?  Sometimes he sleeps over in the box, and sometimes not; there doesn’t seem to be a pattern.  I would be interested to know how common this is.  None of our previous males have ever done this.

No more weekends away for a while, so I should be able to give you more frequent updates.  We have some fairly major environment issues happening in New South Wales at present: changes to biodiversity and crown lands legislation, so I’m being kept pretty busy, but I’ll try and keep on top of things.

[MAK]