NSW - Charles Sturt University - 2017 / Xavier & Diamond

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I’m happy to know that Marragaay is still in the area, but I’m still thinking of Bali and wondering why he disappeared so unexpectedly.

And yes, I agree that Scott has done a fantastic job!

All quiet in the box, but M still around

Published 18 January, 2018 | By Cilla Kinross

It’s been really quiet today since Diamond left the box at just past 6 am and there long absences yesterday, too.   Marragaay was last heard yesterday afternoon and the day before was spotted chasing poor old Xavier around,  but no sight or sound since.  Does this mean the parents have escorted her away from their territory?    Time will tell.

See Cilla’s entire update: http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/all-quiet-in-the-box-but-m-still-around/

Source: FalconCam Project

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Great info in this update!

And check out the videos! Marragaay sure likes to let her presence be known - so perhaps you’ll want to turn down the volume … and Xavier is so funny at times - but judging by the look on Diamond’s face (near the end) it seems she doesn’t know what to think of him - though I’m sure she still loves him.

Length of time from fledge to dispersal

Published 13 January, 2018 | By Cilla Kinross

I had a look at the last few years to see when juveniles have actually left district (well, haven’t been seen) and Marragaay’s hanging around is not that unusual.    Of note is the 2015_16 year when juveniles were seen flying past the box (often being chased away by an adult) up until 5th February.

See Cilla’s entire update: http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/length-of-time-from-fledge-to-dispersal/ 

Source: FalconCam Project

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Thank you for keeping us updated, Scott.

YouTube teething problems

Published 11 January, 2018 | By Scott Banks

Not that anyone ever thought that YouTube actually has real teeth but our streaming feeds hiccuped yesterday, as everyone noticed. It turned out to be an issue inside CSU’s network and not due to the storm cell that blasted through Orange the previous evening, but our good DIT contact, Ayden, fixed the problem and both streams came straight back up.

See Scott's entire update: http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/youtube-teething-problems/

Source: FalconCam Project

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I felt it was very thoughtful of Scott to mention their concern for us as we struggled through our deep freeze, and I’m confident that many FalconCam Project fans were thinking of the folks in and around Orange during the extreme heat in New South Wales (earlier in January).

We're getting to know such nice people - from far and near - through our interest in bird cams.

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Live camera streams & the Milestone server

Published 3 January, 2018 | By Scott Banks

The trials for both camera streams via YouTube Live have been nothing short of fantastic. The stability for both feeds is as good as the CSU network will allow and finally we’re able to offer true HD and audio to viewers. There’s the added bonus that now all Android and Apple devices can see the feeds too. We’ve yet to test functionality if, and when, there’s a power outage on campus but comments from new and existing subscribers have been great – thankyou to you all!! The trial period for one of the cameras runs out today and we’re just waiting on the invoice from Camstreamer to purchase the 2 licences, so if the feed stops on you, that’s probably what we’re waiting for! The older streaming server is still running until we know the new feeds are working trhe way we want them to.

Progress on the Milestone surveillance server rebuild is good; just having a few issues in getting our client software to see the cameras via the server, which is proving highly frustrating for Cilla, and time-consuming for both of us.

It’s good to see that the majority of the peregrine family is still with us, and no-one disgraced themselves over the Xmas/New Year period. With possibly a much warmer January and February on the way it will be interesting to see how much contact we’ll have with them all. Maybe we need to install air-conditioning up in the “Concrete Hilton”?! At least we know this summer weather is immeasurably better than conditions in North America right now. Our thoughts are with the poor folks struggling through the Big Chill up north. Any of our friends up in Winnipeg or thereabouts – how are you all coping?

N.B. (4th Jan, morning) – we should have the two streaming licences any time from now on; one YouTube feed trial has expired but it will be up again permanently as soon as the licences are applied. Thanks for your patience. We’ll keep the old streaming server up for another month after the YouTube feeds are established, just as a contingency, but will remove them from the camera pages to lessen confusion!

See more - http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/live-camera-streams-the-milestone-server/

Source: FalconCam Project

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Marragaay’s hunting grounds

Published 2 January, 2018 | By Cilla Kinross

Last night I was able to observe Marragaay firstly chasing Xavier around the tower and then after giving up on her parents, hunting over a paddock not far from the tower.  She then disappeared into some pines.  After about ten minutes, she flew back to the tower with her prey (unidentified at this stage, but passerine – suggestions welcome).  This was definitely her kill as the others were on the tower during this time.

Photo by Cilla Kinross

The hunting grounds

Photo by Cilla Kinross

Marragaay with her prey

I also got a video of her flying to the top of the tower, with Xavier on the ledge, soon to be replaced by Diamond.  Three out of three!  This was on 31st Dec.

Marragaay, Xavier & Diamond - Video by Cilla Kinross

Until the ledge cam is fixed, (maybe it’s too old? Perhaps just needs a kick, which I might be tempted to do when I clean the box) I probably won’t be able to do more updates from that, but I’ll try and be here at the busy time at dusk as I’m really keen to see how long Marragaay stays (or is allowed to stay) now she’s clearly a competent hunter.

See more - http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/marragaays-hunting-grounds/

Source: FalconCam Project

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The landscape photo of the ancient yellow box trees in Cilla's most recent update is beautiful.   A few years ago the peregrines at CSU lost what might have been their favourite roost tree. I felt very sad for the peregrines when that happened, so I hope that no one will find it necessary to cut down any more of the much needed roost trees, especially those that are now the closest to the nest box.

Love the photo of Diamond giving Cilla the death stare.   I'm assuming that Cilla did not stare back because that could have agitated Diamond even more!

And it is always sweet to see Xavier and Diamond bonding. I find that Xavier has a rather unique way of dancing while they frolic around in their nest box - and Diamond loves it!   I love it too!

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Marragaay still with us; parents courting

Published 28 December, 2017 | By Cilla Kinross

I haven’t seen Bali now, either in the box, on the tower, or in the fields and woods, since 20th December – over a week, now, so I think we can safely say that he has left the area, hopefully to pigeon-filled greener pastures.

Marragaay, however, doesn’t appear to want to leave home and is still chasing parents for food.   Here I caught her in the roost trees, which are ancient yellow box and looking rather fine at present, as they are in flower, so I’ve included a landscape shot.   Marragaay can just be seen as a dot in the centre far right of the picture.

Photo by Cilla Kinross

She then flew to the tower, but the photo is too back-lit.  However, Diamond gave me a look only a peregrine can produce meaning ‘back off’.

The death stare

Photo by Cilla Kinross

And here are the loving couple renewing their bonds in the longest courtship ritual I’ve seen for some time.  My apologies for the internet radio noise in the background!  Note also that the two images are slightly out of synch, so you might think there is a threesome, but alas, not just the two.

Video of Xavier and Diamond by Cilla Kinross: dancing-courtship

Source: FalconCam Project

You will see more at the FalconCam Project!

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Bali hasn't been spotted since Cilla saw him on December 20, and I'm worried about his sudden disappearance. He seemed so comfortable around the nest area that I didn't expect him to leave for a while ... but of course I'm hoping he is well.

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Juveniles in and on top of tower

Published 23 December, 2017 | By Cilla Kinross

Sorry, I lost admin access for a bit, but I have it back.

This is the scene where Diamond has brought in a red wattlebird, but for some reason it is not eaten by Bali, who presumably is already full (too many mince pies!).  This was the last time I’ve seen the young male juvenile ie almost exactly two days ago.  Has he flown the coop?  He’s certainly not in the box at night any more, which is either empty or occupied by Diamond (adult female).

Video: Bali takes RWB

This prey species was easy to identify, being whole, but most prey brought into the box to be consumed by little ones comes minus head, wings, tail and feathers, so is quite a challenge!   I’m putting in for a small grant to get some decent video and still image enhancer, plus a research assistant to see if we can nail down some of the hundreds of prey that I have not yet been able to identify.  Or failing identification to species level, consider some way of usefully classifying each prey by size, family etc.  Ideas welcome!

Thanks to Shep who spotted some courtship interaction between Diamond and Xavier (adult male) yesterday morning.  My screen recording is pretty coarse and I missed it.   I really, really, want Milestone back!    Sorry, it’s only the ledge recording, so there are some gaps.    Having said that, I can at least make longer recordings with this system.

And thanks to Scott, who has done all this extra voluntary work to get the systems (or most of them) up and running again.    Going home for a swim, but will be back this evening.

Video: ledge circuling long

And finally, I did a round up of the usual haunts yesterday evening.  Still no sign of Bali, but I found the rest of the family in and around the tower: Marragaay looking very regal on top, occasionally whining, Diamond, snoozing, tucked into the microwave dish and Xavier in the box.

Diamond

Marragaay

Xavier

You will find four more photos by Cilla on the FalconCam Project site.

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Trial YouTube camera feeds

Published 21 December, 2017 | By Scott Banks

It looks like we’re finally moving in to the 21st century at FalconCam Project. Today we began trialling a new technique to get the two camera streams out to the real world, via YouTube Live. Initial tests show all systems are go, after plenty of technical work in the background. A really HUGE Xmas thanks to Ayden Beeson at CSU in Albury NSW, who completed the task of reconfiguring the cameras & switches to allow feeding to YouTube Live today. It means we can almost do away with the streaming server which has become redundant in this new config. For now we’ll leave it running until we know all’s well!

YouTube has a vastly greater capability to handle high connection loads so we should hopefully have far fewer dropouts. We will still be running 24/7 but the test will be any future campus power outage and how the streams react. We will hear from the software quickly if there’s been an issue. YouTube also means that every type of o/s e.g. Android, Apple etc, can now enjoy the live streams. We’ve also configured audio, but typically, soon as we had the ledge cam streaming, all signs of life in the eyrie flew off!!

For the temporary trial, YouTube Live feeds will be posted to the CSU camera pages ASAP. In the meantime you can connect here:

Nest camera            Ledge camera

Our Axis cameras have been loaded up with a really smart piece of software from Camstreamer. It works by connecting the Axis camera directly with a streaming server and cuts out the middle man, being the encoding server. One less link in the chain to let us down. We have another 11 days of trialling before deciding one way or the other. The really big down side is the cost per camera for the app, which will clean us out. So if there’s anyone thinking of helping us out that hasn’t already, now would be a great time to join the fray!!

Other progress

Cilla was happy to be told today that our reliable Milestone surveillance server has been rebuilt and just needs an updated licence from Milestone to be operating again. Same server, new HDD. Over the coming months we will look at improving our disaster recovery model for this unit, which has run 24/7 for about 4 years now. We may look at moving to “SSD” drives instead of the traditional hard drives, to improve access speed and processing power. This will depend on available funds.

So, all-in-all, a successful day for the Project. Let us know your thoughts on the YouTube Live streaming capabilities. We think it’s the way to go. Thanks again to Ayden B for his awesome help today and to CSU DIT for allowing us the bandwidth to broadcast the peregrine falcons to the universe!

Source: FalconCam Project

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The cams at CSU are now streaming on YouTube - with sound, though Scott mentioned they are still in testing.

Ledge cam - https://youtu.be/j-QWtIktToU

Nest cam - https://youtu.be/25G2o5tJI-o

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Both cams are currently down.

Testing on the camera feeds

Published 21 December, 2017 | By Scott Banks

Apologies to all if the cameras go up and down for the next few hours. We’re running some connectivity tests in attempts to improve accessibility, so they may be up and down. I’ll advise when we’re done. Thankyou for your patience.

Scott

Source: FalconCam Project

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Today they're expecting a high of 35°C in Orange, New South Wales!

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Bali and Marragaay were seen together in the nestbox! We're very lucky to see them. Thank you, Cilla.

Update - Siblings at dusk

Published 18 December, 2017 | By Cilla Kinross

After a rather hot and uneventful day, I heard the juvenile female, Marragaay screeching around the tower.  This is usually followed by Diamond taking shelter in the box, but that didn’t happen.  What DID happen, however, was a surprise (and very short) visit by both juveniles – Marragaay on the ledge, I think.    I missed the entry and the video is very jerky.  I”m still using screen recorder (and still camping in my office, almost) and the quality is very poor, so I can let it go all night.   And I’m off home now.

Siblings at Dusk Video

Source: FalconCam Project