New Peregrine cam in Australia

[Annette]

Appearance at Aust National Field Days in Orange

Cilla has taken part of the Project display today out to the Australian National Field Days at Borenore, just outside Orange, to show off our world famous feathered celebrities. With some luck there’ll be lots of interest. Visitors to the Field Days come from far & wide, right across Australia.

Orange campus will also be receiving another visit from the “Future Moves� schoolkids at the end of October, here for a day to experience the university lifestyle, and of course to learn about peregrine falcons!! The last group a few months ago learnt a lot and had a fantastic day around the place.

Anyone who’s been to any of our recent exhibits etc will know that we now use our own Project QR-type barcode so it’s very quick to take a note of the website for future reference, on smartphones, tablets etc.

Snow is almost topping Beau in size now. The challenge will be to confirm whether Snow is a he or a she but money’s already on that it’s a female, based on the advanced standing height against its father. It’s a little boring up the Concrete Hilton at times during the day but generally either of Beau or Swift takes guard whilst the other is off hunting. Snow is sleeping  a lot and we’re seeing quite advanced flight feathers comnig through now – that gawky “teenageâ€� period! And with extra movement and stronger legs come moments when the decision to sleep underneath the cameras can be alarming when we lose sight for a while. Rest assured that Snow is playing sensibly when close to the raised ledge still….

http://www.anfd.com.au/

24 day old Snow spots movement
http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FalconCam1HD-17-10-2012-021443pm.jpg


Snow, just mucking around

Snow is taking on the appearance of less fluff and more feather. With only approximately 15 days or so left before attempting to fledge we’re making the most of our time with Snow. Cilla’s coming on well with some substantial research statistics from this breeding season (e.g. food patterns, parental behaviour – male/female etc).

A 6 mins clip of Snow just messing about near the ledge
http://youtu.be/ZhGzTFZffDA

We’re 99% sure we’ve now solved the recording server’s issues with the loss of archives. Attaching an external HDD about 8 times the size of the previous disk (now more than 2TB, as was estimated when we purchased the software through Lan1 – spot on, Basil!) seems to have given us the answer and is indeed archiving and maintaining records; at this rate we may be back to around 3-4 weeks worth of archives at any one time. Still working on quality, and audio output…

[Donna]

http://youtu.be/bR1JXmDo4mM

Snow gets punished! This is a bit graphic for some but Beauty did almost the same to Orion when he wandered off to the wall. Is this normal Falcon behavior?

[MAK]

I think mom wanted Snow in the back of the nest and was merely trying to put her there. I think the pecking at the head was Swift just trying to figure out how to grab Snow to pull her back. I watched Beauty grab Orion a couple different times and put him where she wanted him. It's all good, this eyas is growing and progressing 2 weeks after this video was made. 

[carly]

A couple of years ago I watched a singleton in Michigan, I mentioned him before and we nicknamed him Sumo ...cause he was a little heffer 

Anyone one day there was - unbeknownst to us, a falcon intruder near the nest box.  Sumo had jumped out of the nest box while the parents were out of cam view and then mom cam back and started freaking out trying to get him back into the nest box. 

Of course, we were all thinking she had lost her mind and was trying to hurt him - she couldn't figure out how to get him back in so she grabbed him by the cheek (he was a few weeks old at the time) and just hauled him up into the nest box cutting his cheek in the process. 

Later on, the people that manage that site told us what was going on out of cam range so mom was just trying to get him to safety with her where she could protect him.  Later on - dinner was served and it was the 'falcon' intruder...that part was tough to watch.

[Donna]

She fed a falcon to the eyas?? Oh horrors! Yikes!!! Just goes to show, a mom will do whatever she has to to protect her young. Thanks!

[carly]

She fed a falcon to the eyas?? Oh horrors! Yikes!!! Just goes to show, a mom will do whatever she has to to protect her young. Thanks!

Was a first for me too.  I'm guessing it wasn't just a passer through, likely it was a challenger for the nest and given they had a kid to feed...  I've also seen a dead offspring eaten by a parent....twice actually.  In both cases there were other surviving kids in the nest box so I could only conclude that perhaps not to attract predators, they disposed of the body by ingesting it.   I didn't see it being fed to the remaining kids in either case.

[MAK]

She fed a falcon to the eyas?? Oh horrors! Yikes!!! Just goes to show, a mom will do whatever she has to to protect her young. Thanks!

Was a first for me too.  I'm guessing it wasn't just a passer through, likely it was a challenger for the nest and given they had a kid to feed...  I've also seen a dead offspring eaten by a parent....twice actually.  In both cases there were other surviving kids in the nest box so I could only conclude that perhaps not to attract predators, they disposed of the body by ingesting it.   I didn't see it being fed to the remaining kids in either case.

The not so nice side of nature! Survival baby! 

[Donna]

Getting big that Snow

[MAK]

Another one growing too fast! 

[Annette]

Lots of screen time for Swift, Beau and Snow

With Snow 32 days old now  the adult feathers are well & truly showing ; a fairly quiet eyas this time around but developing its own personality. Swift and Beau are taking plenty of their time in with Snow, and you’ll quite often see Swift taking a well-earned rest. As some viewers have queried, Swift is certainly spending far more time in the eyrie than in past years. Hard to fathom why, but it shouldn’t be weather as it’s a typical Springtime & food seems to be abundant. There’s a possibility that as Snow is a reasonably quiet and non-pushy young one (as opposed to the likes of Ophir last who was intent in tearing her parents apart at any opportunity!) that Swift feels secure enough to snooze without being harassed.

This afternoon we caught a moment where Swift’s gaze, for some reason, was affixed to our nest dome camera. She came right up to check it out and wasn’t convinced for about 5 minutes before finally giving up and heading for the ledge. Video clip to come…

A curious Swift


Swift approaching


Cilla’s been hard at it, buried in the recording server, running off clips suitable for research, taking plenty of notes and readying our records for future archiving. We’re still pushing the recording server to its limits, with almost full-time HD camera recording, but with the newly acquired large hard drive we’re back on track for storing longer term archives again, freeing up the older and smaller hard drive exclusively for the ledge camera archives. More testing is also going on using different video streaming technologies as we’re not happy with the current generation of Flash technologies at all, which seem to be behind most of our streaming issues right now.

[Annette]

Clips of Snow, Swift and Beau

More footage for those who are missing decent video streaming at the moment. Firstly a soft moment between Swift and Snow, who is intent on remaining close to mum. Then Beau arrives during dinner and is ushered out the door quickly by Swift. We also have some footage of Swift taking note of the camera and eyeballs us as she checks it out; camera is OK and escaped any harsh reaction!!

Snow growing up too fast - 33 days old


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNAt7FkA9I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw444vRQoik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLtXVD4qig

[Kris G.]

Clips of Snow, Swift and Beau

More footage for those who are missing decent video streaming at the moment. Firstly a soft moment between Swift and Snow, who is intent on remaining close to mum. Then Beau arrives during dinner and is ushered out the door quickly by Swift. We also have some footage of Swift taking note of the camera and eyeballs us as she checks it out; camera is OK and escaped any harsh reaction!!

Snow growing up too fast - 33 days old


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNAt7FkA9I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw444vRQoik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLtXVD4qig

Snow is growing much too fast!  Loved the videos especially the last one!  Too funny!

[MAK]

Ditto that Kris! 

[jeanne]

Just precious!  Love how Snow tries to get so close to mom

[Annette]

Nearly ready to jump

With only 2-4 days days left before wanting to spread wings and experience the big scary outside world Snow is becoming restless. All campus residents and staff are now on alert, in case we have a recalcitrant fledgling shortly. Soon as we see Snow go we’ll be out making sure all’s well! An exciting moment, but also a sad one as we watch another young’n head for the big wide world.

Day 36 Snow about to get a meal


More video clips to come shortly. We used to think our Snow was quite serene but we seem to have caught a few “big brother� moments where serenity has been a long way from Snow’s developing mind (& claws!). It could also be why Swift is spending less time in her (recently unusual) habit of snoozing in the eyrie alongside Snow, and is now more up on top of the tower.

We’re making the most of our time with Snow but those on campus will no doubt still be able to enjoy the goings-on outside in the trees as the new capability of flight becomes a new toy, and how trees work, and how much easier it’s become to annoy mum and dad for food!


Some “Snow� moments on video

Snow’s strength is growing and so is the pent up energy and frustration, being stuck in a confined space when the outside world now beckons. Fledging should be approximately 2nd-4th November, when that amazingly brave leap of faith will hopefully, and safely, take place from the Concrete Hilton. We’re all on peregrine-watch now and the moment Snow goes over the edge we’ll be down there making sure the big leap has been a safe one, without incident. Swift has been actively annoying any visitors around the tower, and will be more intense once Snow leaps.

A warning to anyone around Orange who wishes to check out Snow’s progress up in the trees – Swift has been known to dive on unsuspecting visitors so look up and be wary of any movement, and take heed of any verbal warnings from Beau and Swift.

http://youtu.be/v4mMQmGqI7k

http://youtu.be/DCSvz3rS8mM

http://youtu.be/pRar7QjQSKc

The FalconCam Project crew would also like to thank all our viewers and followers over the last few years for your fantastic support – the website has just passed the 80,000 visitor mark since inception. It’s great to know our effort and enthusiasm for these amazing creatures is rewarded with such a dedicated  following. Thanks everyone & keep watching with us!!