MN / Elk River - 2008-22

[carly]

Just caught a shift change and before that an egg rotation and eggs look beautiful and pristine now...we want food fights 

[allikat]

Lucky you Carly!  I hate that I can't see the Brighton cam when I get home from work...wish it was live streaming!
Anyway..getting back to Elk River 
I think we'll see a hatch very soon here.  I can't wait!

[carly]

31 days today I think since she laid the third egg so not really, could be any day now.  They could have just been the calcium marks tho which is why I asked in case someone else was watching, they don't exactly give you much time to examine when they do the quick change and the eyes can play tricks on you when you want to see something   

I'm still excited over the Brighton pair - I really got a birds eye view of the hatch today, she was facing the camera and had lifted up and I actually saw the leg coming out and the front half of the shell moving off the chick..it was really cool!

[Pchemist]

hm.  seems a little early but hatch is expected this weekend!

[carly]

Umm...just caught a shift change....are those 2 eggs with pips I see or are they dings,   Bah parent back on them now 

[maggieblue]

Looks like a nice morning at Elk River.  Whoever is incubating has been calling out off and on for about a half hour.  She doesn't seem upset, probably just calling out for a shift change.   

[carly]

Maybe those cute starlings want their house back 

[Elaine L]

There is a terrfic racket going on at the Elk River nest; the male, I believe, is on the nest, looking out, and I presume it is the female who is outside who is so agitated, and you can hear more than one falcon out there; I wish I could see something outside the box.

[LouLouBelle]

as the days go by... waiting and hoping all 4 hatch this time. Mom is having a snooze (or Dad?) and got all 4 safely tucked away. Two weeks and it'll be quite a different show! 

[The Peregrine Chick]

They don't respond to all the emails is probably more accurate.  Remember there is easily a 100 to 1 ratio - for everyone 1 of you, there are another 100 people watching in that same minute.  In a month or so, it may well be more than that.  Less frustrating for you to just send an email with the information and your name and assume they will not have time to get back to everyone, particularly if 99 out of every 100 emails they get is about the same thing.   That's why I try to post updates here and on the blog (now that I have control again!) because there is no way I would be able to get back to everyone who emailed during technical difficulties ...

oops, missed this ... and a number of places have no intentions of maintaining email update lists or the like because they don't have the time or inclination (or their employer's don't).

If something serious - and no, the cam not working isn't one of them - pm/email me and I can see about passing along a message to project person I was talking to last year.  Serious qualifies as death, mayhem & destruction - remember the media axiom, "if it bleeds, it leads"?  - add flooding and fire and you get the idea

[The Peregrine Chick]

You are quite right Pchemist, it is - I asked my plant contact last year.  We do however get questions from non-Forum folks who have seen nestboxes with security lights near them why we don't put lights on our nest ... should have mentionned that in my initial post 

[Pchemist]

In this case I don't think the light is there for the nest or cam - I think it's part of the security for a power plant.  Those are typically well lit places.

[The Peregrine Chick]

There is lots of debate about lights at nests with cams - the light disturbs the birds because it obscures their night vision and infra-red lights have folks concerned because of the wavelength and whether or not it could do damage. (We don't have either and we won't use either - natural light/cycles is what you get in Mb).  Think movement activated floodlight in your bedroom .... 

Actually in 2007 we had alot of lightning storms while the chicks were in the box so there were many nights you could watch for a couple of hours and see the outline of the adults on the box edge ... kinda cool ... didn't know what you would get from one flash to the next ...

[Pchemist]

you know, we may have complained about the light last year (when they stared into it) but it is nice to have a nightlit nest cam to check on before bed!   

[Pchemist]

yes, and I recall her having the same crown and general features as Princess while dad looked a lot like Trey (it's how I knew who was whom).  But that said, it means that if they were not at this spot, I wouldn't know them - so it could be others who seem similar (not being of the bird persuasion).  But, I still think it's them!