Bird Cams Around the World

The falcon/cuckoo facts are what they are, but they still surprise me. I hear (but usually don't see) cuckoos all summer from tangled places a Coop or sharpie might go into, but not a falcon. Cuckoos must spend time on the canopy where they can be spotted from a distant soar and attacked by a fast approach just over the leaves.

SGB - That's a good question about whether or not falcons can recognize their offspring. Based on the Montreal falcon experience, it seems as though they can . . . but that might be the exception rather than the rule.

Greg - Thanks for the info on the Wilmington falcons' diet. It was fascinating to see the chart of what they've eaten over the past years. I was also surprised to hear the Yellow-billed Cuckoos were near the top of the most-eaten birds. I didn't even know that they were in our area, and I had no idea of what they looked like (until I did a Google search, of course). Cuckoos are definitely not one of my backyard bird visitors in North Wilmington!

I believe this is the Wilmington male that was just in the box. He sure is a handsome dude!


In looking through the archives for this morning, the "other" bird was in the nestbox around 6:30. I guess we shouldn't call her an intruder since she doesn't appear to be one?

Thanks for the early morning picture, Kim. I agree, he's one handsome dude!

As for the other female, we should probably just call her "the other female" since she doesn't appear to be an intruder...at least not yet!

This situation is certainly going to be interesting in how it turns out! I'm so glad there are people on site to give us ground reports.

The "other woman" is back. She's making herself right at home doing the scrapes and lots of tidying up.


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Kim, I hear from one of the VA biologists that there is a peek hole in the box. Is it possible for someone to take a look an identify bands? I sure would help to understand the situation a little better.

Hmmmmmm....not sure I want to spend that much time at the nestbox waiting. I think we're just going to have to be patient.

Does the offspring at the Montreal site play house...as in working on the scrape and tidying things up? The "other woman" is in our box again and is tidying things up.

Hi all! That is a very interesting situation. But I am curious to know, have you ever seen the regular couple interact in a friendly manner with the intruders ? (sorry if it has been mentioned before I did not have time to read everything) I would think that at least the two males would not get along together and the same for the two females. As catwoman pointed out, the situation we have here in Montreal is quite different because the "other" female is a juvenile from last year who has never left the territory. She is not ready to find a partner yet. But for sure her parents can recognize her because last year there was also a 1-year female wandering in the area and both adults chased her, no friendly manners there!

I think we're down to just the pair from last year and the one female "intruder". I've never seen all three interacting with each other. So from what you just told us, it's highly unlikely that this situation is like yours. Well poo. What the heck is going on with these guys?

A male and a female were perched on the Wilmington Trust Tower at 11th and Market Sts. at 11:30 am and the female was still there 1:00 - 1:30 pm. In past years this was a favorite haunt of the established pair.

Fresh mourning dove feathers this morning and a dead but uneaten eastern pipistrelle bat on the sidewalk by the nest site. I bet the male peregrine grabbed it out of the air and carried it home, then dropped it after he gave it a closer look. "Yuck, grossest bird I've ever seen."

Lots of questions with this site. Thanks for all the info. Greg, nice you have the ability to be there during the day. Up close and personal reporting.

Greg

Greg, you are the first on this forum to report daily meals. Its really fascinating....thanks!

The other woman was just in the nestbox. This picture is a little fuzzy but in comparing it to the picture from a couple days ago of the bird that I thought was our female, I'm not so sure that these aren't the same bird. She's in the same pose here and you don't really see the feather sticking out.


Here's the picture from a couple days ago that I thought was our female.


Hmmmmmmmmm....

This is definitely the "other woman" with our male. I think we can probably say that we have a new resident female...

Kim flagged what appeared to be an appearance of the old female on March 9 at 7:53 am (page 8). Does anyone disagree that that was the old female? No feather sticking out on the back.

Has anyone noticed the old female since March 9?

To look on the bright side, the new lady is big and beautiful herself. The male sure looks infatuated, doesn't he?