Bird Cams Around the World

Hey everyone! Just dropping a line to say hi! I found something interesting about our JC birds I'd like to share. I was searching for pics of NJ Peregrines on Flickr and came across 2 galleries of the JC birds from the winter of 2005-2006. The first gallery has some terrific pics of Mom (the photographer worked at 101 Hudson), unfortunately not close enough to read her band #'s. Towards the end of the gallery's 2nd page, she figures out that she's being watched, lol. But there are pics of another falcon, I'm guessing a male, with a completely "hooded" head. Here's the thing: this is not current Dad (aka 2/6)! I'm starting to think that after the original male lost his wing in the lightrail accident in the spring of '05, a male other then 2/6 shacked up with Mom for the rest of 2005 into 2006, and 2/6 chased him off in time to father the '06 brood. The head markings on this bird are much different then 2/6 and in one of the pics (in the 2nd gallery), you can see that it's not even banded! I always figured 2/6 had swooped right in after the original male got hurt, but these pics suggest he actually won Mom from another male: 2/6 is a playa'! LOL

Here's the first gallery from November 2005 thru March 2006 (the pics of Mom are when she's eating, so a number of her pics are quite graphic, but she looks beautiful as always, even if she is a little, ah, messy!), and you'll notice the other "hooded" falcon in pics dated January 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/machefsky/sets/1389353/

Here's the 2nd gallery of the "hooded" falcon dated November 2005 (the photographer incorrectly called it a baby falcon in some captions). Notice it's lack of bands in the 1 pic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/machefsky/sets/1343682/

For additional reference, here's 2 pics from nestbox news. The 1st is the original male after his accident (apparently the Raptor Trust had removed his bands when they got him). The 2nd is our current Dad, 2/6. You'll see how different their head markings are, and how the falcon in-question in the above galleries more closely resembles the original male rather then 2/6.

Original Dad:
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/peregrinecam/images/101male05.jpg
Current Dad (2/6):
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/peregrinecam/images/windowview09.jpg

Just wanted to share this with you all. I think it sheds some light on how exactly the transition from Original Dad to Current Dad went 4 years ago. I definitely didn't expect to find a 3rd bird involved in that chapter!

Thanks, Mike!

Your're welcome gang! I like doing detective work with the JC pair, it seems like there's always something new & cool to find out about them, past and present!

Obxbarb, Bonnie left the photographer a comment/message asking if he could enlarge some of the pics that show Mom's band to see if we can get some numbers off of it. In one of the pics, he had commented that he thought the bird was banded as "Bird 44." I'm guessing he saw a "44" on the band. If that's the case, we only need one or two more #'s to complete the ID. I wish I had a huge camera lens that day in August when Mom was on the corner of the building across from 101 Hudson. The leg with the band had been facing me, but the band may have been covered by her feathers anyway.

Hi everyone, hope you all are having a good holiday season!

Dropping a (belated) line to share one last visit to 101 Hudson this past Sunday. I decided to head over there hoping to see the falcons one more time in '09 and reminisce a little about what a fun year this was watching them. Also wanted to try out my brand new scope and tripod! Hung out on the Montgomery St. pier for about an hour and a half and didn't see anyone flying. I did come across remains of 2 pigeons on the pier (first time I've seen that in that location). They both looked fresh, most likely that morning's breakfast or a late day snack from the previous day.

Walked over to my old perch at the corner of Columbus & Hudson and was surprised to see the benches had been removed! Hopefully it's just a winter thing or something, those were convenient! Still didn't see any falcons, so I walked further north to the corner of Greene and Hudson and FINALLY saw one! It was perched on a parapet/column on the same floor as the box, but around the NW corner. I kicked myself for not checking out that part of the building when I first arrived (like I usually did, doh!!). I couldn't see the falcon's legs to check the band situation, but I'm leaning towards it being Mom. I watched her for almost an hour. I couldn't tell if she had a full crop, but in any event, she seemed quite content and was just hanging out, overlooking her territory. Had to leave by 12:30, and felt that same reluctance about leaving that I always felt everytime I went there earlier this year. Wish I had gotten to see both birds, but I'm definitely happy I saw Mom! I can't wait until March when courtship displays start up, I've never witnessed that before!

Mike

Hi Mike and Happy Holidays!! Its nice to hear from you, and so glad you felt compelled to go to J.C.! For some reason I thought that the falcons here left the area in the winter. But I also remember a discussion about how many other falcons in the area might take over the box if they left. Its great that you got to see mom. Congratulations on your new scope. Hanging around Bonnie seems to result in new bird watching equipment purchases I'm sure you will have plenty of opportunities to enjoy this pair in action!

Thanks Barb! Yes Bonnie has an influence on the purchasing of equipment, lol! My scope is an Alpen 15-45x60, and I actually asked her about it before I bought it. It was very affordable and got good reviews. I had it out again today looking at a large mixed flock of waterfowl (ducks and mergansers and seagulls, oh my!) and it's definitely a good scope for the price. I also got a new point-and-shoot digital camera (Olympus, 12 megapixels, 5x optical zoom) and a camera mount made by the same company as the scope. So I have the rest of the winter to play around with all this stuff, and hopefully when Peregrine nesting begins again, I'll be posting some nice digiscoped shots!

I'm definitely emotionally attached to the 101 Hudson pair. They are the first Peregrines I ever saw (Mom was officially the 1st, Dad was a close 2nd), and this past summer was the first time I actually observed fledgling Peregrines. Hopefully this pair (and the site itself) continue producing great memories for many years to come!

Thanks skygirlblue, same to you! Yea I guess they hang out at 101 at least sometimes during the winter. I imagine they spread out more after the kids go off on their own, but continue to use 101 as a "home base" of sorts. Barb mentioned a discussion about other falcons possibly taking over a territory if the residents left: that sounds interesting. Even though the resident pair doesn't have eggs and offspring at the actual scrape, perhaps they stay within sight of it to ensure no "trespassing" occurs by other falcons during the off-season.