Bird Cams Around the World

I think it was Cher also.

8:20AM Missed Dan depart, but find Cher is now in scrape doing some re-arranging.

She is still laying there. I would not call this incubation. She's got at least 2 eggs to her left and possible 1 under wing. At least she seems to be trying??

As soon as these bonding sessions started, she started showing more interest in the eggs.

Back to dogs...0840.

Dan

Wellshe may not be technically incubating but her body heat nearby is good and Dan certainly shuffles eggs well
that was her on ledge

2:35pm - Appears Dan is on eggs. Back to me, so not 100% sure, but from behavior and the eggs are all in one place, I believe it is him.

Glenn wrote an excellent post on Yahoo Forum in response to a question on re-nesting:

I have probably said enough about intervention already but I'll take one more swipe at it--and this is more in response to the prior post but the subject line seemed more appropriate here... There is something to be said for allowing things to unfold naturally. There will be more and more nest-partner changes as the world fills up with peregrines. Is it right for us to intrude in the natural order of things? It is an expansive question. The first consideration--our enjoyment and entertainment--must be discarded out of hand. It is not why we do this. There is educational value in seeing the tenacity of a nesting attempt with a tiercel who won't give up on his eggs. And there may be value in allowing this pair slowly engage in a new relationship without "pushing" them into laying this year. If the embryos die as I think they probably already have, the eggs will break open eventually and the stench of them will drive the birds away.

For my part, I prefer to give them a chance at nesting successfully this year. I am a relic from the past perhaps, but fostering the success of peregrines and other birds of prey is what we have always done. It seems worthwhile. But there are precedents and conditions affecting the decision to intervene. For example, the same prohibition on human intervention that might prevent me from entering this nest, at this time, might protect other birds from intervention at a construction site where nesting birds are being protected or on a tower where they nest and interfere with the tower owner's plans to do maintenance during the nesting season. Laws and regulations are strictly interpreted and that is the world in which we live.

We could have a long discussion here about what we want and why we want it but I would prefer not to. We know the outcome of that debate. There is a bigger regulatory debate than this isolated incident of a mate displacement and the possible loss of a clutch of eggs and a breeding season.

I already have plans for intervention at a nest located under the roadbed of an overpass. For me, that is a clearer choice. The birds have chosen a marginal nest site. If it were a natural cliff ledge 35 feet above the water, the fledglings would do fine. We built the nest ledge (bridge); we know they have failed every year we do not act; we know they will fail again; and, we know we can simply (actually it is a bit of a large orchestrated effort) do something about it give the young a chance at safe fledging. To me that is pretty clear: do nothing and watch them drown, or, act and give them a chance? Simple decision for me.

We are confronted with a failing nest at PG&E due to mate replacement where a stronger female has (apparently) ousted the territorial female. If the eggs die, there are not nestlings/fledglings at stake. I have the ability to change the course of this nest site and will do so because I want to continue to foster the success of peregrine falcons as I have for a long time. It is what I do and can do so competently and with a proven record of success. But regulations were not crafted with me or this circumstance in mind so I will wait for an interpretation by one biologist in a Sacramento cubicle (the federal office agrees to amend my federal permit if the state biologist will amend my state permit--that is who we are waiting for) and either act or not act accordingly. --glenn@scpbrg

3/20/13 update on SFO:



My daughter, Katia, held the little guy on the hillside above the pasture so that I could drive three tenths of a mile to call him across the distance. He was able to negotiate the long flight but is not yet doing anything fancy–just making a flat flight across the ground about waist high. It was his longest flight yet but again, he is a long way from self-sustainability in the wild. The value of these flights is that they allow us to properly assess his fitness and note progress. These birds quickly come to tolerate the presence of people and, in this case, my daughter’s dog but will quickly abandon this accommodation if and when the partnership with humans ends.

SGB - funny you say that. My husband and I were talking the other day... He asked me if I knew the first report he ever did in school was on a peregrine falcon! I was telling him about Cher sniffing the eggs.. He said, "Honey, birds can't smell, so she's not sniffing the eggs". Right! I forgot that!

See, I remember Bev telling us last year when Fernando came into SJ that he was sniffing/tasting the eggs. And when Cher came in, she did the same thing. You know, maybe you are right about testing the temp. Never thought about that. Interesting.

And, sure, I'll figure out a way to tell an expert that birds don't smell


Oh, want a piece of trivia... In CA we have approx. 300 nests that produce approximately 2 young per year! Here I am thinking gosh, can't figure out why all these unbanded birds keep showing up at our cam sites...DUH!!!

I didn't know there were that many either. Had no clue. We just don't hear about them very often, or more realistic - I'm not talking to the right people! Most of the sites with nests are kept quiet which I completely understand because people are weird. When I think about the relative consistency in pairs in SF & SJ, I think we are very fortunate. With those numbers and less places for nests, I'm surprised we haven't seen more turnover.


Re: Zurich, I will. When I had the opportunity to speak to him the other day, I told him she had just laid her 2nd! Wow, if those hatch, it will be incredible.

dan

Cher

good for Cher