OH / Columbus - Rhodes Tower - 2008-16

[Elaine L]

I like to keep an eye on the Columbus falcon cam in case I am lucky enough to catch one of the birds dusting the camera lens for us; but I don't know what I am looking at right now - it looks like a giant sponge has moved into camera range.  It may be someone cleaning.  If someone else can figure this out, that would be nice.

[maggieblue]

Someone doing a feather closeup in front of the ledgecam this morning 

[maggieblue]

YEAH    The Colombus ledgecam is back in action and there was even someone there who flew off, Scout I think.  I was worried that both cams would be out of action until the spring so this is a treat. 

[Alison]

Haven't seen Scout and Orville, and when I checked the site today both cams were down.

Meantime, Chad and Chris have posted a few more bathing pics:

http://www.falconcam-cmnh.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?37970.50

Titan bathing:



On the previous page there are some beautiful pics of Titan and Hillary in flight:

[maggieblue]

No sign of Scout and Orville and I don't blame them for not being home.  It is incredibly noisy there this hour as there is a huge political rally that must be very close to this building.  I guess they are not political peregrines.

[eagle63_1999]

Oh those photos, all of them, are priceless. In the last couple of years I've been quite taken with birds having a bath. So yeah I love seeing pics of birds, any birds, taking a bath.

[carly]

Love, love that second picture..that face is priceless, it just says..is it off me yet  !!  I think we have alot more to learn about these amazing creatures!

[Alison]

Carly, I was going to post the same link to the spectacular photos by Chad and Chris of Titan and Hillary bathing. They take the most beautiful photos of peregrines.

Peregrines do come down to the ground to drink and to bathe, and I think that is what Scout was going to do in the photo.

Here are a couple of older photos by Chad and Chris. The first one is of Buckeye at Hilliard Bridge taking his bath - he loved the water! Very sadly, we lost Buckeye last year. Titan is Hillary's new mate. The second pic is of Hillary bathing a few years ago.

[carly]

That picture reminded me of this one I saw on Alison's site - I forgotten about Titan and Hillary, check out these pics of them bathing together - just scroll down a bit til you find the start, absolutely beautiful shots of them frolicking in the water together!

http://www.falconcam-cmnh.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?37970.30#post_38942

I was told the same thing that they don't go to ground and probably in the city core they wouldn't as there are cars and humans to contend with. Maybe living in the dirty and smoggy, polluted city air has driven them to bathing..hehe..they look like they are having a blast..nice to see!

[eagle63_1999]

Highly unlikely, they do go to the ground-water to get a drink and bath, seriously I doubt there is anything wrong with her.

[Elaine L]

Scout is a beauty - I hope the fact that she is on the ground is not a bad sign; the biologist where I do volunteer work said that when birds of prey go to ground, it is usually because they are sick, or something is wrong.  I certainly hope that this is not the case with this beautiful peregrine!

[carly]

Oh she's a beauty, taking a bath    I'm surprised she's on the ground, the adults don't usually go that low!  But then again they always seem to do what we don't expect them to..hehe.

[Alison]

An update from Donna Daniel on the cam situation:

Nestbox camera update

As most are aware the nestboxcam has been down for a couple of weeks now. The problem is with the computer that transfers the video from the cameras to our website and is severe to the point that the computer needs to be completely replaced. Fortunately though, this has happened in the “off season” so a delay of view shouldn’t cause too much unrest among all our falconcam fans out there.

Replacing the computer presents a challenge. Anyone familiar with state government and/or the present state of the economy can surely understand that we are dealing with very strict budgetary and purchasing limitations. Prior to this recent problem we had been tossing around the idea of changing systems to utilize a camera that transmits directly to the internet. If it is found to be a plausible option, this system could potentially result in fewer outages because of network problems. We ask everyone to be patient while we explore the options. Expect the nestboxcam to not be available in the near future but we of course would hope to have it back in time for next nesting season.

http://ohioperegrinefalcons.blogspot.com/

And a great pic of Scout with the update:

[birdcamfan]

Great pictures! thank you for sharing...every time I go to the Ohio site, all I see are pictures of poop! I always seem to miss the birds.

[Alison]

Carly, I wish your cam was still functional too - I miss seeing the falcons there! Any chance of the cam being fixed?

I'm not sure who is on the ledge at Columbus in the first two pics, but the one with the close-up feathers is Orville. In the last pic, he shows off his band numbers.