Bird Cams Around the World

Thanks, Greg--so nice to have on-site reporting!

Greg, did you happen to see the drooping leg?

Kim, I was too far away (three blocks as the falcon flies) to see how he carried his legs when he was flying. When he was in the box he was standing on both feet. I couldn't make out bands.

Wow, that is great news! Greg, it is so great having your street reports to give us a complete picture of what's going on.

Thanks. I misspoke when I said they went "ne" on 11th Street; they actually were headed southeast (toward the Delaware River, although they may well not have gone that far).

Unlike yesterday from fight time to 1:00 pm, there has been no noisy aerial display today, hostile, courtship or otherwise.

I am curious about the 'drooping leg'. Is this something that he has always had or was he injured in the fight? And if something is wrong with his leg, might this be a reason for the female to consider the other male as a mate? Boy, how will this turn out I wonder. Thanks for all the observations.

When I walked to my car at 6:15 pm EDT everything was quiet, but a falcon was perched on the "G" of "WILMINGTON TRUST" atop the side of that office tower facing Rodney Square southwest across 11th Street. The bird was still there when I drove back in that direction but at 6:30 it dropped off the perch and flew northwest toward the nest sit on the Brandywine Building, 2 1/2 large city blocks away.

I couldn't follow on 11th St. (one way the wrong way) but I did go northwest on 12th street and at 6:32 was fortunate enough to have to stop for a red light with a good view of the Brandywine Building (and nest box) a short block to the west. A peregrine, big and powerful looking, obviously the female, was soaring and gliding around, usually well below the height of the nest box. Maybe she wanted company or her evening food offering. I had thought that the bird perched on the tower had been the (or "a") male, but it could have been the female. The was still plenty of hunting light left if the male wanted to score some more points.

Kim has the best take on the male's drooping leg. He's had it for years of being an effective provider. He seems to stand on it fine and the only disfunction seems to be that he can't quite lift it all the way under his tail when flying. Go here and look at Kim's picture of the male with a daughter in 2007: http://wilmfalcons.com/2007.htm

OMG, I see that leg. Well obviously it hasn't prevented him from being a good provider in the past. Those pictures are fantastic and how cute those 3 little chicks are on the nest ledge. Thanks for the link.

ljames, skygirlblue, thanks for the kind words -- but the credit for the pictures that have added so much clarity to this nest site goes to Kim.

I can't see bands on the webcam feed the way some people here can, so I'm just taking it at second hand that the incumbent male is still here (although I believe it,and with two fighting yesterday, that makes sense). It looked to me that at one point his good leg was grasped by the other guy and his left leg was on the floor, not deployed. But he pulled a reversal anyway, scoring immortal points on the wrestling referee's card, whether or not he keeps his castle and gets the new lady. Two males were in the air all morning after the fight, so I award each of them, old male included, a draw.

One of the males was just working on a scrape...

Our male was in the nestbox a little while ago! Someone is in there now but not sure if it's him or not...

Just caught the pair!

Our male was just in the nest. He makes such good scrapes!

I've tried to read back over the posts to get up to speed, but I did not see when and where these two (the regular occupants) were born. I realize that now the female is dead. So, first, how old were/are they? My thinking is this other male may be much younger. And Please clarify the death of the chicks. Were they found dead in the box some time after banding? Was it disease? You know, some places test, treat, etc the chicks during the banding process. I wonder what all they do here. Or maybe they died trying to fledge? Or something else? Thanks. Please forgive me if I overlooked the info.

By the way, I saw that video of the mother attacking the peephole during banding. Oh my word, she was soooo upset that I thought she was going to hurt herself. I have a better appreciation for what some of the biologists have to go through to get the chicks for banding.

ljames - I'm sure Kim and Greg know more about the deaths of last year's chicks, but I remembered reading about this last year so I checked our old forum. Here's a link to a post on Kate St. John's blog that explains part of the story, with updates posted in the comments.

Oh lord, how tragic.

Thanks for the information Catbird.

Yes, last year was a horrible year!

Our male was just in the nestbox again! Ingrid, did you ever find snapshots showing the male with the red band on the right leg from yesterday? I haven't seen him at all so far today!