McKenzie Seeds - 2013 / Brooklyn & Hurricane

[Cooper]

I checked the backlane behind the McKenzie building today and it appears our birdies have been eating green-winged teal. 

Pretty fancy dining you got there in Brandon! 

[RCF]

I checked the backlane behind the McKenzie building today and it appears our birdies have been eating green-winged teal. 

[RCF]

At 2pm, Hurricane was perched on the Scotia sign scoping out the pigeons. 

[The Peregrine Chick]

1241: Mini thunder storm the last few minutes, heavy rain but what wind there was is from the southwest so not driving into the nest box like it has for the last month. Almost stopped raining and the sun is trying to come out again.

Let's hope it is coming out way - the storm would be okay if the sun came with it!!

[Rose]

1241: Mini thunder storm the last few minutes, heavy rain but what wind there was is from the southwest so not driving into the nest box like it has for the last month. Almost stopped raining and the sun is trying to come out again.

[The Peregrine Chick]

From Environment Canada - bit more info to add to RCF's summary ...

Day - Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain, then thunderstorms in the afternoon. Fog early. High of 18C. Breezy. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 20 km/h. Chance of rain 90% with rainfall amounts near 7.6 mm possible.
Night - Partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Fog overnight. Low of 9C. Breezy. Winds from the NW at 10 to 20 km/h.

Winds shouldn't be of much concern for Hurricane and Brooklyn today, maybe some swirling around the building but given the position of the nestbox, probably not much force behind it.  Box is on the east side of the building, so air movement from the west they are pretty protected from.

For those looking at the day count, we are on day 20 of incubation.  Hurricane's and Brooklyn's eggs usually hatch out at or past the 30 day mark, so if they are still on that schedule another 10 days until the start of the Brandon hatch watch...

[RCF]

8:40am
Looks like the sun decided to come out, hope it sticks around and they change the forecast for more sunny days.

[RCF]

8am
Brooklyn napping.
The forecast for today is for light rain with some thundershowers, light wind and a high of 18°

[The Peregrine Chick]

Weather Forecast for Today

Day - Overcast with a chance of rain, then rain in the afternoon. High of 21C. Breezy. Winds from the ESE at 10 to 20 km/h. Chance of rain 70%.
Night - Overcast with a chance of rain, then rain after midnight. Fog overnight. Low of 11C. Winds from the East at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 70% with rainfall amounts near 7.1 mm possible.

[photosbydennis]

Perhaps just his way of saying Hi...

[RCF]

I'm thinkin' that he wasn't happy to see you Dennis!    I love your photos!!

[photosbydennis]

The last of the Brooklyn photos have been loaded in the gallery http://www.pbase.com/photosbydennis/brandon_2013 ...until banding day at McKenzie Seeds.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Good records Rose  - minor update is there has always been a camera on the nest in Brandon but it was CCTV up to 2011.

There may have been a CCTV cam but only for a select few and not for public view.  I also remember the banders being surprised that in 2009 there were four chicks not three.

  This is from 2009

Oh, did I mention that they discovered there are FOUR chicks in the nest, not three as previously thought.  What a nice surprize!!!.

http://www.species-at-risk.mb.ca/projects/pfrp/forum/programs/index.php/topic,3014.msg32124.html#msg32124

  Maybe the camera that was there wasn't working then, so you couldn't see how many eggs there were???

You are right, it was just for a few - mostly just Dan and the Green Team student that was working with him that summer.  I only ever got to see the images when I visited Brandon and mostly they didn't record anything (it was a VHS recorder) and from what I remember, the CCTV camera was not nearly as good as even the lowest resolution cameras now used for webcams!  It was certainly better than trying to peer out of the little window where our camera is now, that was impossible for trying to figure out who was where and what they were doing.  It was the best that would work at that location with the technology available at that time but its wonderful how much technology has improved since then. 

Having said that, I'm having trouble confirming how many eggs we have in West Winnipeg because of the camera angle this year, so great technology or not, sometimes all you can hope is for the surprise to be a good one.  And I remember Dan's email - we needed to make sure we had enough bands for whatever were the genders for the birds so there were a couple of rapid-fire emails to make sure we had enough of all sizes. 

[RCF]

Good records Rose  - minor update is there has always been a camera on the nest in Brandon but it was CCTV up to 2011.

There may have been a CCTV cam but only for a select few and not for public view.  I also remember the banders being surprised that in 2009 there were four chicks not three.

  This is from 2009

Oh, did I mention that they discovered there are FOUR chicks in the nest, not three as previously thought.  What a nice surprize!!!.

http://www.species-at-risk.mb.ca/projects/pfrp/forum/programs/index.php/topic,3014.msg32124.html#msg32124

  Maybe the camera that was there wasn't working then, so you couldn't see how many eggs there were???

[The Peregrine Chick]

Re: Hurricane and her eggs'
 2009: she laid 4 eggs that all hatched and the chicks fledged perfectly and all migrated. (no camera)
 2010:She laid 4 eggs and according to Dan (conservation) 2 eggs disappeared but remaining eggs hatched. (no camera)
 2011:She laid 4 eggs that all hatched but due to torrential rain storms 2 chicks died.(camera)
 2012:She laid 4 eggs that all appeared normal until hatch time three hatched and one didn't hatch, reason unknown.(camera)
 2013:She laid 4 eggs, 3 that appear normal and one that was blighted and discarded.(Camera)
 Now we wait until hatch time and like the Radisson nest hope for good weather.

Good records Rose  - minor update is there has always been a camera on the nest in Brandon but it was CCTV up to 2011.