Bird Cams Around the World

I just saw the Wilmington male fly to the nestbox and here he is! I also saw he's the one with the whitish looking band on the right leg. I'm so excited!!!

The "other woman" is back.
And she flew in with some prey.

Oh my . . . that's bad news!

I can't believe that the resident falcons haven't forced the intruders out of the area. Are they hoping that the intruders will leave on their own?

Good question! I'm really surprised they're all still around!

When was the first egg laid last year Kim? (Sorry if this has been asked before)

She laid the first egg around 3/27 last year.

Now I'm starting to wonder if the picture I posted this morning from 6:32 is really the Wilmington female or if it's the intruder. What does everyone else think? I keep hoping that the intruder that's in the box now will stand at the same angle so I can see what the feathers look like.

I looked back at your earlier picture, but I couldn't tell if it was the resident female or the intruder.

I can only ID the intruder female when I see the bands or the wayward feather.

Kim knows this history but for everybody else, people saw two falcons chasing and diving (with a third falcon present) several times in the last week of October and first week of November, 2009. To my knowledge an extra bird was not seen again until this month, and I never saw fighting or more than two adults at a time during the period that the nestlings were lost last year.

Wilson's Snipe feathers on the sidewalk yesterday; Mourning Dove feathers today.

(Not sure I get how to post yet so bear with me.)

Thanks for the info, Greg & welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum, Greg! It's nice to have you here . . . and to hear more about the history of these falcons. It was also nice to get a first-hand report on what the falcons have been eating!

FYI - I moved your post here and deleted the previous ones you'd added as new posts. As for doing posts in the future, just click the "Post Reply" button, type your message, and click "Submit" to respond back.

If you want to get fancy with your messages, there are a lot of formatting options to choose from. To learn more, go here . . .

Welcome Greg! We are grateful to have both of you here on the forum.
I've been pondering the weirdness of what's been going on here. Is it possible that the intruder is an offspring of this pair? If it was a territorial battle, it does not seem that two females would be left standing.

I caught the falcon with the green band this morning. I tried to see the band number, but it was impossible!

Our male was in the box at 12:24.



Right after he left, the female intruder showed up...sigh

"I've been pondering the weirdness of what's been going on here. Is it possible that the intruder is an offspring of this pair? If it was a territorial battle, it does not seem that two females would be left standing."

At the Wilmington Library reception last Thursday I asked a similar question of Craig Koppie, the USFWS biologist who monitors eastern Peregrines and Bald Eagles. He seemed skeptical but then related an instance in which an adult bald eagle perched on the nest of another pair but was not hammered by the resident birds, and speculated that this was because the trespasser was a fledgling of the pair from a previous year.

Thanks for the kind words everyone and for the moderator's advice on how to post.

It could well be true that the intruder is an offspring from a previous year. We just started tracking a new falcon nest at the University of Montreal where three falcons have been appearing: Roger and Spirit (the parents) and Polly (their daughter from last year). The parents are not at all aggressive towards Polly when she appears.

The Montreal topic is here . . .

Very interesting!

Welcome Greg.This is all so interesting. I hope the birds can get straightened out by the time the eggs are to be layed. The history isn't too good though.

I agree, very interesting. The new falcon is welcome if she doesn't try to disrupt things.

I try to keep track of what the falcons are eating, and did an article on this a couple of year ago for the local ornithological society journal. If anyone is interested, the Wilmington falcon website that Kim designed links to a chart on the "What do they eat?" FAQ here:

http://wilmfalcons.com/falconfacts.htm

A wide variety, including one bat and one dragonfly. Unsurprisingly, pigeons and mourning doves are first and second in incidence and flickers fifth. More surprisingly, yellow-billed cuckoos are third and black-bills fourth. Lots of male red-winged blackbirds and a few grackles this winter.

Greg, I've seen yellow-billed cuckoos on the top of lists before. They must taste really good