Other Peregrine Projects > Australian Peregrines
NSW - Charles Sturt University - 2018 / Xavier & Diamond
Alison:
Today's update.
Two weeks and counting, time for names
Thanks so much to everyone who voted in the Great Chick Naming Competition. Alas no prizes.
Here are the results:
As you can see, the clear winners were Budhin (sunbeam), closely followed by Gaama (storm). There were only three Wiradjuri names and they did pretty well).
The parents have been leaving the chicks for longer and longer periods alone while they hunt (or just sit on the top of the tower and wait for dinner!). Here are two youngsters with the abandoned egg from this afternoon. You can see how huge they are getting. Often six meals a day coming in, with a few of the large honeyeaters (noisy miner and red wattlebird) in the mix.
http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/two-weeks-and-counting-time-for-names/
burdi:
Growing as you watch them
Published 6 October, 2018 | By Cilla Kinross
The minute you turn your back, the two chicks seem to have grown, such that both Diamond and Xavier, and especially the latter, have trouble tucking the youngsters under them on a chilly night.
Prey has been plentiful. Xavier tends to focus on starlings. Diamond has made it clear that these are NOT her preference, but will use them if there’s nothing better. However, she’s been hunting too now the chicks are a bit bigger, leaving Xavier in charge, and has been bringing in pigeons and rosellas (as in videos above) and below).
Here Diamond is trying to feed the chicks with rosella after they are already full of starling (they are less fussy). You can almost here her saying, ‘Please, just one beakful more…’.
I was at a nearby reservoir (about 10 km away) today doing a bird survey and saw a peregrine looking for water fowl. Not sure whether it was one of ours, but it’s always possible. They don’t get waterbirds very often.
Remember, voting for names finishes Monday. Names are two threads back. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Cilla
Click here to go directly to this entire update by Cilla Kinross
Courtesy of FalconCam Project
Alison:
The chicks are growing fast, especially noticeable in their legs and feet.
Alison:
Two beautiful, well fed little chicks:
burdi:
The opportunity to vote for names continues on this thread - as mentioned below by Cilla.
DEADLINE Monday 8th October
Little piggies & prey analysis
Published 4 October, 2018 | By Cilla Kinross
The chicks contine to eat until they collapse into a ‘food coma’ to sleep it off. Prey has been coming in thick and fast, even this morning in the rain. Mostly starlings, with the occasional parrot or larger prey. In fact Diamond was so sick of starling she went hunting herself this morning and came back with a rosella, pushing past Xavier as if to say ‘Now, Xavier, this is PROPER food for chicks’.
Mind you the chicks will eat anything shoved their, even it seems starling legs, until Xavier thought better of it.
Due to a question on the chat on YouTube ‘how many prey’ items have come in, which I coudn’t answer, I had a look at my files. I have over 6000 images (stills and videos) and, at a wild guess, I have usually about 5 images per prey (more if they are interesting/difficult to identify, but often only one or two for whole prey).
So I probably have about 1000 prey to analyse. Some of these are definitely identified (perhaps 100), another 100 or 200 are just to be confirmed by a second opinion, and the rest are unidentified and will mostly be classified by size. I’m currently trying to work out how to do this as it’s not as simple as it seems. I’m currently using the known prey as examples and trying to use only images where the birds are fairly straight on t the camera. I’m measuring the length and width of the torso to get a m2, then doing the same for the peregrine in whose clutches it is, then calculating a ratio. When I’ve finished, I will see how much consistencey there is between the ratios of the known species. If the variability is too wild, I may have to abandon this method. Anyway, I’ll let you know how I go.
Cilla
Click here to go directly to this entire update by Cilla Kinross
Courtesy of FalconCam Project
Cilla Kinross says:
4 October, 2018 at 3:08 pm
And if you haven’t yet voted for the names, you can do that here. The names are on the previous thread.
And here’s a repeat of the list of names to choose from, including instructions - from Cilla's previous update/thread (for quick reference).
Cloud, Dust, Breeze, Sunny, Gamma (Wiradjuri for ‘Storm’), Fog, Rain, Burrawarra (Wiradjuri for Dusty), Rainbow, Budhin (Wiradjuri for Sunbeam).
You can have a vote here too. Just pick your two favourite names and put them in the comments section. DEADLINE Monday 8th October.
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