2011 - Kinderchicklets / Was that Princess or Ivy?

[The Peregrine Chick]

I'm very glad that the computers at school can finally see the webcam!  I've seen your big screen and it is very cool for watching peregrines - and soon for watching baby peregrines.

So you want to know who was babysitting the eggs yesterday morning?  It was Princess all morning, Ivy took over at 3 minutes after 12 o'clock and he stayed with the eggs for a couple of hours before Princess came back to the nestbox.

Looking at the bird asleep on the eggs right now (9 am), that's Princess again.  She's been doing some housecleaning which is important because the chicks will be hatching in the next few days we think.  She knows she is going to be very busy taking care of the chicks so she wants to get all her chores done first.  Pretty smart I think.

There are no pips yet on the eggs I don't think, but its hard to see on the camera - Princess has the eggs at the far end of the nestbox and when the sunlight shines in it is very very bright which can make it hard to see something as very small as a pip.  One of the eggs is lighter than the others but that is because it has some light coloured dirt on it - like the kind of dust you get on your shoes when you play outside, it makes the colour of your running shoes sort of dull.  But that is okay, it doesn't hurt your runners and it doesn't hurt the chick inside the egg.

We think the chicks will hatch any day now - but don't worry, if you don't see it in class, I will try to make a little video of the hatches - but I have to hope that Princess will let me see her chicks when they hatch.  Sometimes she keeps them tucked under her when they hatch, sometimes she lets the camera see.  Don't know what she will do this year, but I will be watching just in case!

The Peregrine Chick

[Kinderchick]

The Kinderchicklets were absolutely thrilled to finally be able to see the nestbox LIVE, on our computer and digital camera at school this morning ,Tracy! I kept the image open for most of the morning and it was great to see them go about their business of working and playing, while at the same time watching the "goings on" in the nestbox.

The 'chicklets wanted me to ask you if that was Princess or Ivy in the nestbox all morning. I told them that I was pretty sure that it was Princess but of course, they insisted that I check with you, just to be sure.

It was especially great that we were able to see whichever bird it was, re-position him/herself on the eggs, by turning around and tucking the eggs under again. And we were even able to count all 4 eggs a few times. One little boy was sure he saw some "pips" in one of the eggs but I told him that a few days ago you had said they were not "pips", but maybe dirt or dust. They like to say the new word "pip" that they have recently learned. And to think that I, myself, only learned what a "pip" was just about a year ago.

Finally, as an aside, but a cute one, at that, every once and awhile throughout the morning, our computer would lose the image and a sign would pop up that read "No Signal!" When that would occur, I simply needed to re-type my password and up would pop the image of the live streaming nestbox again. The same little boy who was asking about the "pips" in one of the eggs asked me why there was an exclamation mark after the words "No signal!" "I don't think there should be an exclamation mark", he said, "because it's really not very exciting when the picture disappears." LOL! Once again, out of the mouths of babes. (We have been learning about exclamation marks lately.)