Swift is gradually becoming happier taking longer breaks from the scrape and indeed she has taken a few trips out to obtain food of her own accord. Beau seems to be keeping up appearances early in the morning but can also be away for hours at a time during the day and the three furballs can become agitated. At this stage we can see that two of the eyases are noticeably larger than the third but all are getting to that stage where those disproportionately large feet are becoming a fascination (& quite hilarious to watch!). Indeed the larger of the three is exploring a short distance further each day. You’ll also notice the first wing feathers are beginning to appear and their awareness of their surroundings is improving daily too.

Furry frolicking starring the three eyases can be viewed here …

Foot in the face

After a couple of feedings early on this morning it was a long break for Beau who seemed to have disappeared, but he came in with lunch and all the bobble-heads are happy again. They’re growing so quickly now and have just begun to venture away from the scrape, although they’re quick to return to each other. At just under 2 weeks old they’re developing fast and with good care from Beau and Swift we have lots of fun still in front of us.

Feeding time video can be viewed here … . Another from yesterday (audio) can be viewed here …

Swift returns with lunch

A quieter day up the Concrete Hilton and in the media today, but there are always 8 & 10-day old eyases to watch. Swift spent more time today on the ledge taking a breather, in longer shifts. She’s struggling to get even one chick underneath her now, let alone all three, so protects them from any chilly breeze but otherwise just stays close by. Feedings were fewer today although by the size of their crops they’re not short on sustenance. Beau has taken to resting on top of the tower or around on the microwave dish arm after a successful ‘meals on wheels’ (wings?) trip before flying off to survey his domain again; we’re not sure yet if Swift realises he’s bludging just around the corner as he stays well out of sight!

Kristy and Sam from Prime TV visited us this afternoon and were shown over the Project’s set-up and some good vision of Swift, Beau and the littl’uns upstairs. With some interesting statistics and a little humour we appeared on Prime News tonight which can be viewed here … Thanks once more to the Prime crew for great coverage and support in helping us to bring the Project to the wider regional community.

Noticed today was the ever-decreasing lack of room under Swift as she tries to keep her charges warm. It seems the eyases have doubled in size in such a short time of 7-9 days, but that could just be a “step-grandparent” observation here! Little chance for Beau to be able to keep them warm so let’s hope this Spring weather keeps on improving.

On top of yesterday’s WIN TV coverage the FalconCam Project media road-train headed in to the ABC Central West studio early this morning for a live interview with Angela Owens. Dubbed affectionately by Angela as “the ultimate procrastination website” it’s brought Swift, Beau and the bobble-heads to an even wider audience.

Thanks heaps to Angela, Miles and the ABC for your fantastic enthusiasm and a chance to speak to the local region – you may well be bugged for another interview before the chicks leave the eyrie in about 30-32 days time!!  To read the ABC article from this morning, and audio, click in here …

Everyone should be listening to the ABC in the mornings and reading the ABC Facebook & Twitter pages !

We were visited today by Emily and Murray from WIN TV News who took away some great footage and gave regional TV a well-rounded segment with some opportune moments. We ran through the benefits of the recent launch of live camera feeds via this website and whilst out under the trees Swift flew down to the feeding branch and treated us to a full-colour, close-up of lunch! Not to be out-done Beau then flew some loops around the tree, keeping us in full view, before gaining height and giving us an impressive high-altitude soaring display. Thanks to WIN TV once more, and for getting the website address out to the general viewing public.

As a reminder to our readers & supporters all received donations and fundraising go towards upgrading our cameras and equipment; the first of the new HD cameras is on its way and will provide much sharper and more contrasty nest camera vision. It will also provide the Project with motion-sensor recording activation in the nest view, as well as a full audio option.

WIN TV News segment can be viewed here …

With plenty of feedings every day at the moment we got the opportunity via the nest camera this morning to meet the whole family briefly. Swift had just taken off to sort out breakfast while Beau made an appearance next to the bobble-heads, who all seemed to be arguing amongst themselves over something; cute interactions all the same. Swift then returned which was Beau’s signal to depart again. Video clip can be viewed here …

Peregrine male Beau is doing a wonderful job in providing for the three eyases and female Swift. He’s been clocked in on some days with average 4 feeds but sometimes up to 6 if he’s done well. It seems to be ample for the family as often Swift can be seen heading over to the “pantry” for another bite. She seems to store remnants in the back corner of the box, away from the scrape (i.e. bottom right, in the nest camera view).

Here’s a clip of Beau returning once more (audio), but Swift heads out for a breather then returns when she realises Beau is trying to feed her bobblies; a trust issue?! The audio gives you an idea of the conversation that goes on between both adults. Another attempt at moving the audio module closer to the base of the box will be made soon (Swift permitting!).

A good thing about the scrape having moved to the far side of the box – better focus; a bad thing – Swift seems to prefer to stand in our way during most feedings!

Owing to the HUGE traffic load we’re getting through the website at the moment we’ve upgraded our camera feed pages to a more stable location. You’ll notice up on the top menu that there’s a change in entries. You can now go to the camera info page up there or by clicking here. CSU has kindly helped us in our hour of need and we’ve moved the feeds to a new CSU-based site which should promise to be more stable and reliable; another step in the upgrade path! If you had links to the old pages please change those links to this new location – thanks.

Keep watching and commenting; it’s good to know you’re out there!

Feeding time

If you’re a little squeamish when watching birds eating then you may want to look away now. Wonderful footage this morning of Beau bringing in a monster breakfast (clip with audio). Will get Cilla to identify his quarry but it was so big even Swift had to eventually take it down to the trees to carve it up. She came back shortly afterwards and fed all three chicks before settling down once more. Hard to tell as a female should always look away when she eats; Swift is no exception!

This morning, in the dull misty rain-soaked Orange day, we can now confirm three chicks. As everyone has pointed out much earlier this morning there was the remnants of a whole eggshell in the eyrie, but Swift was staying close to the scrape. Just got footage of a really big meal delivered by Beau. Swift has taken it away to carve up and in doing that she gave us better vision of three little heads bouncing around. Video clips to come shortly.

Unusual feeding behaviour today; we found a painted button quail (Turnix varia) below the nest – not actual proof, of course, but it is unlikely to be anything else but peregrine prey that got dropped.  It’s puzzling as these quails are very hard to spot and I’ve very rarely seen them around here.

Still two chicks and one egg being incubated, as we speak.

Cilla

Day two of the most important time of the year for the Project has started brightly with lots of hope and cheer. The first two chicks appear to be well but tiny, of course, and we observed a feeding last night at about 5pm by Swift. The fact that the third egg is still being actively incubated and hasn’t been discarded is giving lots of hope that we’ll see the third furry head soon. The gap between the layings of the 1st and 3rd eggs was 6 days so we were lucky to get 2 yesterday.

Website hits have skyrocketed so we apologise if you’re having trouble getting on, or the camera pages play up. They active streams are being monitored all day and we’re developing more stable versions to be implemented very shortly.

Brief footage here of Beau arriving to give Swift a short respite. Great vision of the little bobble-heads too! Another earlier clip (containing audio!) of Beau arriving for his first look at the new acquisitions has been loaded here …

The public screen in the Orange campus Learning Commons 24-hour area is running very well, with lots of interest shown. Purchase of the first new Hi-definition camera isn’t too far away. Continued work is being done with audio, and video clips containing such should be available very soon. There is an audio module plugged in to the ledge camera but is hanging too far below the box to obtain good sound. When Swift allows us to work up the tower we’ll quietly move the module underneath the box and undergo further testing.

Bonus video clip – Swift feeding her two day old chicks (5mins), with 1 egg left to hatch. YouTube is still having issues so with some luck the clips will still play OK.

Congratulations to our tolerant parents, Swift and Beau – the first little head popped up in the tiny hours of this morning’s darkness. As has been pointed out it’s so small but it’s very new. There is now also a second little head under Swift as well; third still unconfirmed. True to form our recording software and streaming has decided to fall over in random ways this morning, but we’re on to it and will continue to make sure we can provide as much live coverage as possible. Bear with us! When we’ve edited some clips a little shorter they’ll be made available via this website ASAP.

But for now the good news is that new life has appeared up in the eyrie and we’ll be keeping close tabs from now on. Enjoy the new life!

Swift and remains of first egg

It appears there could be some movement underneath Swift; this morning she’s been agitated and seems to be listening to either movement or sound. A couple of avid supporters and myself climbed the tower this morning to see if we could improve sound quality through the newly repaired audio module (currently available in recorded video clips), but Swift wasn’t giving anything away and has settled down once more to the long haul.

Not long after we descended we noticed Swift had alighted her favourite branch (she seems to know when we look away and changes happen before we know it) and treated us to an amazing aerial display, doing high-altitude loops above us before swoop diving back on to her branch. She also let us know she wasn’t happy with our intrusion but then took off for a longer flight, before returning again to take up her role on her eggs.