A changing of the guard, or, home to roost

ScottBanks — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:30:56 +0000

It’s been a few days now since we last saw one of this season’s three youngsters. It may well have something to do with the bad weather, but it will no doubt also be influenced by all three maturing and attaining more independence. With some luck they’re all becoming adept at hunting.

Indeed since earlier this week we’ve only been accompanied by Swift and Beau who may be feeling more “at home” once more, now that their offspring are flying off to new regions on their own. Swift has spent many hours on the ledge , with an entire overnight the other evening. Beau also comes home to roost and if you’re lucky you’ll catch either/or in the cameras during the day, most often at dawn or dusk.

In saying that here’s a shot from earlier this week of the last sighting of a yearling, taking a snack:

Dining in

Dreary quiet days

ScottBanks — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:45:37 +0000

With some pretty average weather, violent storms last week and rain predicted this week, it’s a quiet time in the trees, although regular feedings (or pleading for feedings!) can be heard every day still. The youngster roll call has reached two at any one point in time since last year so we can but hope that number 3 is safe and sound elsewhere. This period has given us an opportunity to breathe again and plan ahead for this year. The priority for us now is to achieve funding for the second HD camera. This first camera, to appear soon on the streaming pages, is vastly superior to our our older models, and a second unit will replace the current ledge camera. We’re well on our way in $ terms, thanks to our brilliant supporters from every walk of life! Once improved vision is in place we’ll be looking further towards upgrading our two servers as they’re old and running very close to 100% most of the time, but in saying that they’re very reliable and proving their current worth.

The feeling of the day

New video footage, courtesy of Beau

ScottBanks — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:43:50 +0000

The worst of the storms have passed by (more later this week), with fortunately no serious damage to equipment nor peregrines, although I gather there were a few nervous moments up top too. During the storm a video clip was run, (just in case!) showing one of the youngsters trying to shelter on the microwave dish arm – just about the very worst place to be during one of our storms! Luckily nothing happened but the audio in this clip is an indication of what went on for about 45minutes around us.

Also some really nice quality video footage of Beau running an eyrie tour inspection the other day. Interesting his desire to “scrape” at this point in time but good to see him. All family members are finally getting used to the new “eye” in their eyrie too.

Siblings together once more

Severe lightning storms strikes Orange

ScottBanks — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:44:28 +0000

If you’re currently having problems with the cameras it could be that the sky is at present falling on our heads in Orange. A severe and very direct storm is passing overhead and has required 2 restarts to the streaming & monitoring servers. Hang in there – normal transmissions will resume as soon as possible!
All falcons have hunkered down elsewhere, which is a good move as no doubt Beau remembers being caught on the microwave dish 4 years ago when a direct hit struck the tower & flashed across campus. The only (other) bright news from amongst the 50 dead computers & printers that day was that 3 days later our first born, Migii, miraculously & against all laws of nature, hatched!

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Training with an edge

ScottBanks — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:04:06 +0000

An unusual moment of interaction late this afternoon up on the tower. Swift was quietly sitting on the small WiFi antenna on the north side of the tower, sunning herself in the hot summer glare, when Beau arrived and started urgently bowing and chirping away to her from higher up on top of the ridge. One of the youngsters swung around from above the trees and as it attempted to land next to Beau he hopped along and pushed it away, before following it down over campus and out in to the northern yonder, all the while being harassed by his offspring. Eventually Beau quietly returned to settle on the ledge, no doubt without realisation that Swift is still just around the corner! This behaviour is reminiscent of most probably what’s to come in the next 3-4 months as the youngsters will be driven off for good near the end of summer/beginning of autumn. Debate continues as to why this was such a dominant display by Beau. Of course it would have to be a day where the SLR camera was absent. All comments welcome!!

An article from across the water

ScottBanks — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:34:41 +0000

Just noticed an article from over the Tasman Sea in New Zealand about a new New Zealand Falcon chick hatched at Staglands Wildlife Reserve near Wellington. Very cute photo of a very young eyas, but alarmingly low numbers for yet another species in trouble. Great to see more recovery efforts making a difference – “Fast life for a little predator” (Stuff.co.nz, 13-01-2012).

There’s little to report from up the Concrete Hilton over the weekend, with one video clip ready to upload (troubles uploading; will repair ASAP). The good news is that the new HD camera is running beautifully and the paperwork is going in to CSU’s DIT people shortly to allow us to change over from the old camera to the new nest camera. There will also be some security upgrades to the server undertaken.

Feeding activity in eyrie this morning

ScottBanks — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:14:02 +0000

Visits to the trees and in to the eyrie are patchy at the moment but most of the peregrines are still in the area. Going home back down the road the other evening I witnessed a writhing starling mass, similar to a shoal of sardines in a panic, above some pine trees. As I drove closer I was passed going the other day at high speed & low altitude (i.e. car height) by one of the young falcons who must have terrified the starlings in to panicking but seemed far more determined to get home than to harass the potential dinner menu.

More activity in the cameras this morning with a feed supplied by an adult (most probably Swift as she’s been back with us more recently) and voraciously accepted by the young’n. Calm then returned after a lengthy meal, with some very generous poses, contemplating and preening.

Video clip of the day – 2 of the 3 youngsters enjoying time together, away from the blustery day outside.

Quiet time together

Quiet weekend, busy morning

ScottBanks — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:09:54 +0000

Little activity to report over the weekend, with weather ranging between lightning storms and brief driving rain, to high humidity and bright sunshine. Hard to know, as a peregrine, whether to stay under cover or to be out in it!

This morning saw one of the young’ns gleefully accepting a bite and then playing with breakfast before eating.

Swift makes a brief appearance

ScottBanks — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:52:30 +0000

We’re having fun getting used to the new HD camera, with the odd video clip and occasional photo. No-one’s been staying over for the last few nights but Swift hopped in not long ago with a little food which she placed in the corner before hopping out again. She’s camera-shy but one brief frame showed her off:

Swift briefly

Male, Beau, has appeared occasionally and he seems intent on preparing the nesting scrape from this season. Doesn’t stay long but at least he smiles to the camera!

First HD night vision

ScottBanks — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:19:31 +0000

Hope all our viewers and supporters have had a safe and healthy New Year – welcome to 2012!

With the HD camera now fitted and operational we’ve got our first brief activity video clip available – a remarkable quality improvement over our existing nest camera. Here we see one of the youngsters paying a visit very early this morning. We’re still tweaking the camera settings, and this week will be speaking to CSU to bring the camera online via the website but for now our existing two cameras are still running happily.

Addendum: Just found some colour daylight footage from yesterday as well – how good are those peregrine falcon colours, and how inquisitive of the new thing hanging on their wall!

The night peregrine