Bird Cams Around the World

From SF PGE forum, 5/22/12:

Evening report

Hi all -
Around 7:40pm this evening, I found Electra on bay 7 of PG&E and walked to see the 2 boys tucked in on the Steuart tower not too far from one another. Shortly thereafter, Electra flew around the corner from Mission quite low carrying prey. The boys both chased after her and tried to take it from her. She circled a number of times as if she was hoping to find a good spot to land but to no avail. The attempts that the boys made to grab the prey from her were unsuccessful and they flew back to the roof of the Steuart tower. She did not find a good landing spot and took off over One Market. The boys then flew out chasing each other. They put on a bit of a show for me crabbing and diving at each other before settling back in for the evening.

I was thrilled to see them all doing so well and flying so beautifully! It is quite amazing to see all the flight skills that they have gained in such a short period of time. As I left, I saw Lil up on 50 Freemont and feel sure that she is keeping one eye on them at all times.

cheers,
a


Sounds like the kids in SF are doing well!!

From SF Forum:

Glenn Nevill got some great pictures of the family yesterday (5/23/12).

Here's a link to his album.

About 3/4 of the way in, you can see Perry flying with Lil. It amazes me how he's almost mirroring her flight. Love it.

It is amazing to see mwplay. first time peter and I watched them fledge years ago we posted pictures of them flying like they were planes in formation. It is really a thrill. O f course they do this at high speed, so I am holding my breath all the time

Wonderful photos

From SF Yahoo Forum:

All 5 together



Whatever the prey was, it is almost as big as Electra!

And...the kids are back!



Posted on SF Yahoo Group.

so great.
thanks mwplay

Posted on SF Yahoo Forum:

Coast fledglings in play flight and mid-air food exchange

Saturday afternoon, several hours north of San Francisco on the Pacific Coast, recently fledged peregrines are flying over the beach. These are the same birds I photographed back on May 6th.

I captured some in-flight antics of two fledglings together, plus a sequence showing an adult transferring prey to one of the young in mid-air. This shows clearly how a food exchange takes place when it is done correctly. That sequence starts at photo: GN45355

In addition, I was able to confirm all 4 young had fledged successfully.

Here is the link

Cheers,
Glenn Nevill


Peregrines in a coastal setting

pictures were absolutely breathtaking.

thank-you for posting them myplay

Really fun shots ljames! I love those mid air play positions and taking off from the top of a cliff...much nicer than a high rise!

Thanks, mwplay! What great shots!

New pair found in SF.

Posted on the SF Yahoo Group this evening:

2nd downtown SF pair of PEFAs and Dan and Lil seen on the nest ledge today

Dan and Lil were on the nest ledge and on Bays 3 and 4 this afternoon.

And there's been a 2nd pair of peregrines in the area. The falcon is very large. One of her favorite places to sit is the ledge under the roofline of the Paramount Apartments at 3rd and Mission, on the east side of the building. The tiercel is frequently on the same ledge with her and sometimes on the L-shaped ledges below her. They seem to be there during the daytime hours, leaving around 5 or 5:30 pm. These ledges are easily seen from New Montgomery and Mission but can also be seen from as far away as 1st and Mission.

In the last several weeks we've met up at 5 to try to see where they go. One evening last week I saw them both at 4:55 pm. I went to meet with Cheryl and when we went back 5 minutes later they had flown. It's been like that the last few times we've tried to figure out where they go. One evening we walked around for a couple of hours looking for them.

This evening we found them. At about 8:15 pm they were flying around the AT&T building on New Montgomery, landing, taking off, circling, flying east, then back. A great show.

Back in April Cheryl had seen and reported on the forum seeing Lil chase off a peregrine who flew directly to the AT&T building and landed, as Cheryl said, 'as if it knew exactly where it was heading and had been there before'. Also in April there had been other reports of peregrines in the area.

And yes, we had searched that building several times.

It has stone eagles and acanthus carved all around the top of the building, bays, columns, inserts, all kinds of places to sit and hide. If we hadn't seen exactly where the falcon landed this evening we could have searched for hours and not seen it.

So it's certain this pair has been around for several months, during the nest period and since. They are only 6 blocks up Mission from the PG&E building. With the density of tall buildings, each pair probably cannot see each other from their favorite ledges.

However, as soon as one flies up and over as we saw both of the second pair doing this evening, it's clear they are within sight of Dan and Lil. And we've all seen Dan and Lil fly high enough to be seen clearly by the other pair. They know each other are there.

It all seems peaceful and there is no reason to think things will change. If each was able to tolerate the other during the past nesting season, why not next season.

Did the other pair nest somewhere? Who knows! Will they nest in the area next season? Only time will tell.

If you see a pair flying around the area, the new falcon is very much larger than the tiercel--a much bigger difference in size than Dan and Lil. She has malars, a light grey back, no bands. He is not banded. His back is not quite as light as hers. I didn't get a very good look at his head markings through the scope so I'm not certain if he has a full hood or malars. Other details to follow. Both buildings are 30+ stories high and with all the ledges on AT&T, try the Paramount Apartments first if you're looking for them.


We will have to see what happens next year.

I find it so interesting the number of unbanded peregrines we have in the area. All the "on-cam" pairs are unbanded. Wonder where they come from???

Additional Information on 2nd SF pair posted today on Yahoo Forum:

If we are going to tell this story, we may as well tell the whole story... During spring, we had repeated reports of peregrines using the building at 111 Sutter Street from tenants there. I passed that information along to several trusted and competent downtown SF observers. At the time, we were all busy with the PG&E birds, I was going ten different directions to band birds, and no one was able to connect with building people to learn more. In late May, I visited the building and confirmed that a set of eggs had been laid where there was no substrate (on a bare metal roof) and by then, egg failure had occurred. I suggested erection of a nest box for next year but the building owners declined, which is their prerogative.

What is interesting about this is that 111 Sutter Street is just 6 or 7 blocks from PG&E--it is the urban equivalent of Morro Rock where two pairs of peregrines nest on opposite sides of the structure. This says something about food abundance, adaptability of the birds, and increases my curiosity about what carrying capacity really may be for peregrines in the Bay Area--this is why we band birds and study their occupancy of sites and productivity around the Bay.

There are now many places in the Bay Area where peregrines use structures for nesting and that people can enjoy them. More on that later. Best, --glenn@scpbrg


Sounds like it won't be an issue after all.

That is too bad they will not allow a nest box. I wonder if they tried a building structure next to it, if they would be able to get permission. it is worth a try. gord has done that in the past

San Lorenzo Falcon

I came across some information on a very long-lived falcon from San Lorenzo, California. i am posting it here to honor her and in recognition of her very long and remarkable life.

The San Lorenzo Peregrine Falcon

On 8 May 1984 Predatory Bird Research Group staff and volunteers climbed to a peregrine falcon eyrie on the North American wall of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. The mission was to remove thin-shelled eggs from the nest before they broke, and replace them with young hatched safely in incubators at our facility. The three eggs collected that day ranged from 13.5-19.5% thinner than normal, and two were already dead when collected.

The climbers spent a day fixing ropes for the climb and then returned the following day for a rapid ascent to foster the young peregrines into the eyrie high on the wall. Among the two chicks was a female that hatched from the only remaining egg left of a clutch collected in northern California for captive incubation. The other eggs had all been crushed by the incubating falcons due to eggshell thinning.

That particular female chose the San Lorenzo River mouth in Santa Cruz as a place to winter that fall. She returned every subsequent winter through 2003. She could be observed on one of several perches overlooking the River between October and March. She was one of the oldest peregrines we know of in California, and presumably left in spring to breed at a high elevation eyrie she vacated in the winter, probably in the Sierras where she fledged as a youngster.

Well...

Our early birds are really attempting to start early this year, or they wanted to celebrate 12/12/12:

Jim posted this video link on the SF Yahoo forum.

Makes me wonder how early we are going to have eggs this year! I thought mid-Feb was early last year!

Glenn Stewart reported on the SF forum last week that the nest box needed to be removed to fix a water leak directly below the box into an office. He was going to replace it as soon as PGE completed the repairs. Hopefully they were able to get the new box in, especially if these two are already getting into nesting mode.

As a reminder, post season, we were informed that there was another pair that attempted nesting (unsuccessful due to location & building mgmt chose not to instsall box) approx 6 blocks away, so maybe this was a territorial display?

Thank you for the interesting video, mwplay!

One at the nest:

Great Catch!!!

My guess is Lil, but can't be 100% positive.

Yesterday afternoon at the nest: