Bird Cams Around the World

Thanks SGB!!

awesome shots!! what a great update!!!

How nice you got to see them Mike. I love seeing all your photos and can imagine how happy you were to see them!

Thanks Zev!

Thanks Barb, yep it was a thrill!

My pleasure Catbird!

I went downtown this morning from 8 a.m. till noon. Like last week, I arrived at the tail end of the morning's flight training for Boss.

Walked out on the pier when I got there, and about 15 minutes later, Boss and one of the adults came flying in high from the north (adult in front, Boss trailing and screaming). Both flew over the river walkway toward the big Goldman Sachs tower at the end of Hudson St. The adult whipped around the east and south side of the tower in a partial dive, and Boss went around the west and south side, then briefly appeared on the southeast corner as he landed on an upper ledge.

I decided to get up and walk down to the south side of the tower for a closer look, and heard Boss a few times on the way. But there's not much space for viewing on the south side of the tower, and the angle is very steep. The ledges on this tower aren't very deep, but deep enough for a falcon to remain hidden from below. One of the adults was soaring over the top of the tower, and briefly perched on a southeast corner ledge near the top before taking off again.

I had snapped 2 pics of Boss while he was flying over the walkway earlier, and it looked like he might've been carrying prey! The soaring adult was probably making sure he still had it. Afterward, I walked back up to the pier for easier viewing, but didn't see further action.

Over the next couple of hours, I changed viewing spots a few times, but all was quiet. By 11:30 I decided to slowly make my way back to the car, but stopped at the benches on the corner of Hudson & Columbus to scan the north side of 101 Hudson. Found Athena and Six perched on the 39th floor ledge, tucked next to parapets & staying in the shade (although it wasn't in the 90s, it was still quite hot in the sun). Since they were both there, I figured that during one of my walks to change location, Boss likely flew back north and was in the area somewhere (probably also seeking shade). There were 1 or 2 occasions when I thought I heard him, but didn't spot him.

Only took a few pics today, as the falcons were higher up this time around. I'll go through them tomorrow and post any that came out ok.

Nice report! Was on just in time to read and hear some good news b 4 bedtime!! Looking forward to your pics!

I'm in jc now at the corner of greene and grand scanning the south side of the building. No luck yet...

Many thanks for going there, zev!! Hope you had better luck after this post; did you try some other spots?

Here are some pics from yesterday. The first 2 are Boss (like I said in the previous post, it's hard to see anything, but from the position of Boss's feet, it would seem he's carrying something).




Here's the adult he was flying with, near the top of the Goldman Sachs tower a few blocks south of 101 Hudson (couldn't tell which adult it was from my pics). As you can see, the architecture of the GS tower is quite perch-friendly.




And here's Athena and Six on the 39th floor ledge at 101 Hudson.

Made another trip downtown yesterday from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. No sightings of Boss this time, but Athena & Six were present at 101 Hudson nearly the whole time. Boss has been on the wing roughly 5.5 weeks (it'll be 6 come Wednesday or Thursday), so he's going into his ranging-out stage now. The weather was mainly cloudy (thankfully the rain held off until mid to late afternoon). With the clouds and a strong south wind blowing in off the harbor, it felt downright chilly at times!! Quite a change from earlier this month!

Upon arrival, I spotted Athena on the 39th floor ledge of 101 Hudson. I went to the benches on the corner of Columbus & Hudson, and about a half hour later saw Six fly in from the direction of 10 Exchange Place and land on 101 Hudson. He landed on the same floor as Athena, but on a ledge at the northeast corner.

I waited until about 9:30 for any flights, then went out onto the pier for wide-angle viewing. Around 10:54 a.m., as I looked down for 10 seconds to check something on my phone, I almost missed Six fly over the spire at 10 Exchange and head back to 101 Hudson. I went back to the benches, and now he was on the same ledge as Athena (though she had moved over a few parapets from earlier).

Around 11:50 a.m., after watching the adults preening and just hanging out, I decided to take a stroll south along the river walkway. Walked to the end at the Goldman Sachs tower, then headed back north up Hudson St. By the time I got up to York (almost in front of 101 Hudson), Athena appeared high above. Watched her do slow circles and figure-8s, and admired how the species can effortlessly drift around in brisk winds as if it's not actually blowing. She slowly passed overhead, and glided south over Hudson St., turning slightly east and disappearing over the row of lower buildings. I headed back out to the river walkway to try and re-sight her, but no luck (she either went back inland, or had gone south of Goldman Sachs towards the canal). I milled around the area for a bit longer, then decided to head back to the car (a quick check of 101 Hudson along the way showed Six had departed as well).

This was likely my final post-fledge visit for this season. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for Boss!

Here are a few pics from yesterday. First, Six at 101 Hudson:


And Athena:


Six landing at 101 Hudson:


Athena in flight:

Thanks for checking in kittenface, and yep, the timing was all planned out

Happy Birthday BCAW!!

Some falcon news out of the Meadowlands this week. Links to 2 Meadowlands blog posts about Peregrine activity follow. One juvie was banded, and ID'd as a male that fledged this year from the Bayonne Bridge (which connects Hudson County, NJ to Staten Island, NY....a few miles southwest of JC).
http://meadowblog.net/2013/07/banded-peregrine-in-carlstadt/

The post with the ID:
http://meadowblog.net/2013/07/the-banded-peregrine-is-from-the-bayonne-bridge/

2 bridges in the Meadowlands itself were successful this year (1 fledge from 1 bridge, 2 from another)! That calls for another cork-pop!

Thank You for the informative links!! Love the pics from earlier too!!

Not JC or Palmyra related, but still NJ! A number of banded juvie Peregrines were in the Meadowlands last month, and I got some up-close looks at one that was banded in NJ in June. Enlargements showed most of the b/g auxiliary band's number, which turned out to be 70/AN: a female from a newly discovered nest near Atlantic City! She was with a juvie male falcon, who had a silver federal band (possibly the male from the Bayonne Bridge that was seen in July near Met Life stadium).







Lots more photos of this Jersey Girl & her "friend" from that day (August 25):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80696806@N06/sets/72157635249879686/

August 17 was another wild day for young Peregrines in the same place in the Meadowlands, with 3 kids patrolling the same area the whole afternoon and into the evening! The most active one had a strip of blue tape on it's silver federal band. Unfortunately I couldn't get band numbers on that one, but I imagine it's from PA or maybe Delaware.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80696806@N06/sets/72157635170720765/

Wish there were more like you and the others out there catching these pics...
Mandatory insurance? Bahhh! We need Mandatory camera'sfor everyone for migration!!