Bird Cams Around the World

This is a post by Glenn S to the SF Yahoo group. There was some discussion regarding hacking and fostering... He responded to those, but also called it a season for this nest... and provided a little more information regarding rescuing in the future:

There are a lot of questions to cover so I am going to start anew in the hope of sorting some of this out... but before I do, I think it is time to call it for the season. Tomorrow is 36 days for egg three. It has been a dramatic and interesting year. It amazes me that we can still see something new after all these years of camera watching.

Fostering is putting a young from other parents into a nest with eggs. Hacking is releasing a cohort of raptors with no parents in attendance. Rehabbing: sometimes young are "rescued" by well-meaning people and committed to rehabilitation centers. Few are released when ready to fledge. Often they are kept in aviaries and given lab mice and rats to pursue before given their freedom. I do not think there is any data on survival rates for these birds. But fostering and hacking work well--it was a big part of the peregrine recovery effort.

I would prefer to foster young that need a home for whatever reason. But I agree with those above who commented that the PG&E site is not ideal. We picked up all four young last year and replaced them to the ledge. A second consideration is that the young must still be downy white for this to work. while I keep an eye out for nests that can accept fostered young, it is extremely rare to come upon a situation like we have at PG&E--eggs gone just beyond term--AND a cohort of appropriate aged young to replace them with.

Because it is so rare, I plan for a hack site to accept the young I plan to take from the Richardson Bay Bridge. The permitting is in place. The hack site is operational. A hack site attendant is identified and ready. The radio telemetry and quail are purchased. We will give four young that have zero chance of successful fledging, a better than even chance at success at our hack site.

It is important to note that my permit to relocate young from dangerous fledge sites begins with these words: It is likely to be the last year that a permit is issued authorizing the removal of healthy peregrines... Bottom line folks, they think there are plenty of peregrines and if they choose the wrong nesting spot, too bad. We have plowed this ground before so I do not really want to go over it again. Suffice it to say that I will reapply for a new permit and keep pushing on this, but let's not make it a forum topic, OK? I'll try to post a note here later and will report progress on my stewartfalcon.wordpress blog.

I think that covers the high points. In sum, yes fostering works but the timing has to be perfect and the site should be a good one. (When we fostered young it was usually to a nest where we left dummy eggs that were replaced by fostered young--a planned and carefully orchestrated management effort. Hacking is a good back-up plan that works very well. --glenn@scpbrg

I am still holding out for one hatch here this year

miss Edmonton eggs hatched real late 2 years ago. gord was going to remove them and \I said , give us a bit more time. We had 3 successful fledges that year

Just as a follow-up...

Glenn Stewart posted this on the SF Yahoo Group this morning when several posts went back and forth regarding removing the eggs and allowing Dan & Cher to potentially recycle:

I am permitted to collect addled eggs "after the nesting season." That includes eggs that remain in the nest when three week old young are banded. It is less clear what it means when we have birds that continue to incubate, even though WE have counted the days and know they are done. I do not know any other way than to be completely frank: they have their eggs and I have birds fledging in San Jose right now, fledging at my hack site tomorrow, and many more young to band. I would like to have those eggs for analysis but I am not inclined to rush up there to take them from incubating birds, possibly pushing Dan toward a third round of incubation. At times like this I like to ask myself what would happen if there were no camera, no public constituency? I would wait. --glenn@scpbrg

Based on his message today, unless there is a change in plans, it might be awhile before they remove the eggs....

It was my understanding that brooding eggs shuts down the breeding testosterone in the tiercel...could be why Cher's eggs didn't hatch...even if he did mate with her.....
Just a guess...

That sounds very plausible MATRIX.

I think we must have both missed a post, because the last I heard, SFO was coming along nicely. Well, at least Glenn tried to help him.