San Francisco Falcons: January 1-March 11, 2013 (PART I)

bev. · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:52 am

no look of egg or eggs yet??

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

Not yet, bev....he hasn't gotten up...

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

LOL, Carly!!!

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

Egg #2 or egg #3...doesn't matter...we got another egg!!!! :loveshow:

OK..I don't have to obsess today or amass 10 hrs of video!!!! On to San Jose!!!

Cheryl · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:12 am

Good call SGB. I was so afraid she took off and laid it somewhere else.
:sum10:

bev. · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:13 am

yeah

I will let you post SGB. you have spent a lot of hours here. Was watching but checking other sites also

:loveshow:

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

Ah Bev....we all have!!! :flirty:

Lil enjoying breakfast...

And then I guess she moved over here

I am retiring this cam for today!!!!

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

Cheryl wrote:

Good call SGB. I was so afraid she took off and laid it somewhere else.
:sum10:

I still think she may have...but, we'll never know...She laid 4 eggs last year...will be interesting to see how many are in the clutch...It matters not to me...I was just happy to see another egg!!!! :loveshow:

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

carly wrote:

skygirlblue wrote:

LOL, Carly!!!

Holiday here today so I can watch cams and goof off at my leisure :girlyes:

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

ljames · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 12:37 pm

Just got a chance to check in, looked for Clara first, then straight to Lil. I'm so happy for her.
Whatever happened, it's ok now.

:rainbow

Terka · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:53 pm

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

So SGB.... you may have been right on your thinking on the delay in egg #2.

Glenn posted this earlier on the SF Yahoo Forum:

Shirley's Theory

Sent to me off line: This is egg three. Egg two was laid somewhere else shortly after Lil was disturbed. It would not be the first time an egg was laid off a perch. This makes sense to me. If this is the case the question becomes, will she still lay 4 eggs in the scrape? Probably. A peregrine begins to shut down when they feel two eggs under them so the fact that one has gone missing just will not matter in the long run. When hard incubation begins, all eggs will come up to temperature and begin development. We could still have a "normal" season with 4 eggs, but I get ahead of myself. Let's see how this unfolds. --glenn@scpbrg

So maybe the year Scout delayed between eggs... May not have been a delay afterall, but an egg laid someplace other than the scrape?

There was a response by Mary M, who is an avid birdwatcher & knows this pair. Based on her running the cam & the boots on the ground info, here was her response to what Glenn posted:

"In the SF territory in 2007, Gracie laid eggs in two places:

W4 (the 4th support tower of the Bay Bridge) and in the current nest box. So there is a precedent at this territory for this behavior.

I'm going to argue against this theory for the current situation based on a couple of observations.

Several of us were thinking the same possibility since this has happened here before so we went looking downtown.

Ann and Cheryl walked around downtown while I drove the camera. We were able to keep fair track of her but unable to always have her in sight. She could have been someplace else but most of the time she was either on the ledge, in the box, or across the street at 201 Mission. She did some flying around the Embarcadero area while Dan was on 201.

But for me the biggest argument against the alternate site for egg laying is that her behavior didn't change between Friday and this morning. And this morning her behavior is back to normal.

On Friday, she sat in the nest scrape for over 90 minutes looking like she was trying to lay an egg, straining, with her vent pulsing.

Same thing on Saturday. If she'd laid an egg in between she would not have been straining in the box.

Same thing on Sunday. Again in the box periodically straining.

There has been some discussion as to whether people on 201 are causing a disturbance. Workers go up onto that roof (and every roof in the area) every day. This nest box has been used since 2007 without the peregrines seeming to be disturbed by people on other roofs. Yes, when Dan and Lil are on 201 and someone comes out onto the roof they cak and seem disturbed but they've laid eggs, incubated them, fed eyases and watched them fledge without seeming to be disturbed by people on other roofs.

Just another zillion things to think about why this year is different.

Mary"

I think part of this response is due to some questioning Lil's health? Not sure, but there was an earlier post prior to these from Glenn partially stating "I would not jump to any conclusions about her age, her health, or any other potential problems based on one egg being off schedule".

bev. · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:21 pm

Well, I am no expert , but she looks fine, no one knows for sure that she dropped an egg and she could jsut have been late. no one knows for sure but Lil.

Not going to knock anyone's opinions, but I err on the side of caution. In the big scheme of things, does not matter whether it is egg 2 or 3, . when all are laid , they will be incubated, and god willing hatch.

So on with the season, I say.

Onward and upward :snowflake5:

thanks for bring that post here

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

Very interesting post, mwplay...thanks so much for bringing it here!!

Thinking back to 2008 with Scout...(I was such a peregrine falcon novice then) she could have laid elsewhere...I seem to remember her showing very little interest in this egg...and temps were not as balmy as they are in San Fran...of course, Orville, being the pro...made sure it was at least kept "luke warm"...LOL

This really got me to thinking...This actually happened at Richmond...I'd really have to dig through the archives or VDGIF to get the info...but that pair (Ozzie and Harriet) laid 2 eggs on two separate ledges (lost them both) before moving back to the nest box and laying a normal clutch (I may have my facts wrong~could have been 1 egg, 1 ledge, 2 years in a row..can't remember now)...but what I do remember is VDGIF going to one of the ledges and blocking it off to discourage them laying there again...can't remember the year, but they were so afraid they were gonna lay on this skinny ledge again that when they weren't at the box, the cam was pointed toward this ledge..

I'm with you, Bev...differing opinions and all very valid...we'll never know at this point...its just good that there are now 2 eggs in the scrape...If indeed this is egg #3, then she is actually right on schedule...

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

Not sure where we are reporting updates on "SFO"

Yikes.

SFO: Film at 11

Here is a rough, 1 minute video of SFO in flight along the creance. It is a pretty windy day along the coast and you can see that he handles it easily for the forty or fifty foot flight. (Sorry, WordPress is not accepting my video–you will have to take my word for it) The fact that he can make this flight does not mean that he is ready for release. It just means that he can fly fifty feet. He can probably fly a good deal farther but we need to see him do that AND catch a pigeon.

He has been with me for just a few days more than three weeks and is now ready for free flight, though I may not try that until the end of the week. I am trying to take it easy with him given the fact that he is recuperating. He had a bullet dug out of his shoulder a month ago so that injury will take some time to heal.

Speaking of bullets, NBC stopped by to film him today–they have done some good reporting on this issue. NBC learned that airport safety officers are using shotguns and pellet guns to shoot birds at the airport–but they deny shooting this bird. Hmmm. What I said on camera was that it surprised me that we were now shooting at birds that were close to extinction just 35 years ago.I also expressed surprise that state and federal wildlife authorities have signed off on this method of bird abatement. (Post Script: Peregrine falcons eat birds they catch in the air. The other birds know that. Prey birds leave the area when a peregrine is present. In that way, a peregrine falcon is an asset at an airport and anyone who shoots one there–or anywhere–is a real knucklehead).

Make no mistake, it is important to protect human lives on jet airplanes by preventing bird strikes, but I am aware of other methods that have been used successfully to keep birds off runways besides shooting them. I guess the problem is that the other ways are more expensive than a bullet.

The TV news reporters need to interview people at the airport and at state and federal wildlife agencies before the story airs. Here is a snapshot of the NBC videographer shooting the peregrine.

catwoman · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:49 pm

I agree with this article. But if they used a method other than having guys with guns go around shooting the birds, those guys wouldn't be able to go around pounding their chests saying "me tough guy--I shoot gun"! Hope this doesn't offend anyone here, but that's how I picture most hunters! :furious:

Thanks for posting the update, mwplay!

SGB, I remember the year Ozzie & Harriet tried to nest elsewhere. I think that was the year after they lost all their newly-hatched chicks due to something with the eggshells I believe? That would have made the year they didn't want to use the nestbox 2009 & I believe Harriet did lay an egg at 2 different spots, just to have each roll away & break.

obxbarb · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:01 pm

Very interesting discussion, and it's always nice to learn new things. There were a couple of years in Richmond where they had false starts. One on a bridge where the eggs fell through the rotting bridge, and then in the vents of the B of A building. The eggs fell through there and they actually found the shells. That was after the failed brood in the nest box the prior year. She did end up laying eggs in the box after trying in the B of A building. In the Richmond case, I'm fairly certain the falcons are not fond of the nest box location (just me reading falcon minds :wink:

) and have tried other locations because of that. I don't think that is the case in SF though.

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64352

Thanks Barb....and thanks mwplay for the link to Glenn's blog...so far, I'm batting zero trying to find the 1 minute video on YouTube..

...still looking...Maybe we're just gonna have to wait for it to air on TV

bev. · **Posted:** Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:36 am

I f our falcons lay eggs in an undesirable location, Gord has put up a box closeby and move eggs there, . the females will go there.

I am looking forward to seeing if she lays another egg tomorrow.

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San Francisco Falcons: January 1-March 11, 2013 (PART I)

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