MN / Elk River - 2008-22

[carly]

Me too Maggie and of course I missed this exchange because I was in the shower..lol.  I saw some photos on another site of the two of them bowing to each other yesterday and I missed that too..lol! 

I think they know we're watching and are being sneaky 

[maggieblue]

A lightning quick trip to the box shortly after 8 CDST this morning.  Dad with food and Mom in hot pursuit.  A quick food exchange in the nest box.  If they hadn't been making so much noise I would have missed it altogether.    I was starting to get worried that I hadn't seen much of Dad in recent days. 

[msdolittle]

that's the little fella i saw ...  now i know what kind of bird it is.

[eagle63_1999]

Yeppers that is a starling!

[Alison]

I remember TPC was questioning the existence of a "little black bird" visiting this nest. I went back in my archives and found a pic of the little bird. Can't post any current pics from the cam, because all I can get for the last three days is a scrambled pic. The little bird looks like a starling, except possibly for the slightly decurved beak.

[Alison]

Adult peregrines seem not to be enamoured of nestboxes.  They need the gravel and the shelter, but they don't use them unless they have chicks it appears.  And it seems to start pretty early - once the chicks are close to fledge age they tend not to go back into the nestbox either - or at least that is our experience with a variety of box types.

Some peregrines do seem to like their nest boxes. For instance, Nora, the resident female at Black Dog for many years, almost always spent the night in the nest box; she could be seen arriving home just before dark and leaving very early in the morning. The new female at Black Dog does the same thing. Also, Freedom in Fort Wayne spends most nights in her favourite corner of the nest box, and she too leaves at first light. I think if more cams stayed up during the winter, we would see more peregrines doing the same thing. It seems to be the female who likes to use the nest box year round.

Thank you for answering my question about territorial battles, TPC - very interesting information. Haven't been able to post before since my Internet connection has been barely there for the last week.

[carly]

I think I'm in a time warp.  I looked back through our posts and I only saw mating on the 22nd for the first time on cam...and yet it seems like ages ago.  And yes the courting has been less than 2 weeks.

I think I'm watching too many nests  . 

[maggieblue]

Didn't Tracy say that it would be at least two weeks after mating before an egg would be laid?  Who knows what has been happening away from the nestbox,  but hasn't the courting behaviour been relatively recent?  Less than 2 weeks?

Last year I watched the chicks hatching here and it was really    So...hoping for eggs soon. 

[carly]

I'm probably wrong, now she is outside sitting but earlier she did do the crouch thing a few times and she had her behind up high and looked like she was trying to push something out..when I watched an egg laying last week for the first time, the female did the same thing but it went on for hours before an egg finally came!

So April 23rd last year, wow that is far off.  They've been mating up a storm though, I know it takes time but that's a month away?!

[maggieblue]

I think she's in labour!  She keeps crouching down and pushing a bit then gets up again!  Either that or she ate a bad pigeon 

wow, if that's the case she is way ahead of last year 

2008 Bird Cam Timeline
March 3: First falcon sighted at Elk River Station.
March 19: Courting activities observed.
April 23: Female incubated 3 eggs.
April 24: A fourth egg was laid.

[carly]

I think she's in labour!  She keeps crouching down and pushing a bit then gets up again!  Either that or she ate a bad pigeon 

[carly]

Mom in box, squeeking up a storm and at one point she bent over and I wonder if she is getting ready for an egg...  She is definitely getting bottom heavy. 

Dad is here now too...more squeeking.

[carly]

The Atlanta panda cam was terminated at the end of December 2008 due to budget cuts.

It is now back online as of last week due to a very generous panda cam fan who donated 10k for a server and due to Earthlink generously offering to sponsor the cam for 2 years in exchange for advertising opportunities with the Atlanta Zoo.

[Liz]

[My fear exactly. Unless we can come up with a benefactor or whatever happened with the pandacam. I would hate to see the cam's hours restricted or go to some other solution to save money. 

What happened with the panda.cam?  

[bcbird]

My first thought when I heard about the CBC cuts was for the falcon cam!