It’s time to return to the peregrines. Last year we had a whole week about peregrine falcons, but it was marred by the absence of live video feeds—it was too late in the season. Well, the Wisconsin PerigrineCam is back up, and nesting has just begun. Bookmark it if you’d like to watch these amazing birds rear their young. (Click on the “+” button at lower left to zoom in on the birds.)
Meanwhile, back at EagleCam:
And HummerCam, where the young are now too big to fit in the nest but not quite ready to fly. They sit on the edge while mother comes and goes constantly, cramming her food-filled beak down their gaping maws.
Have we done osprey cam yet?
http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/webcams/loch-of-lowes/
I think I posted the link t’other day… they are beautiful! They fly up from the tropics – I assume West Africa.
I’ve had on the hummer cam pretty much continuously for the last day–today it’s been open adjacent to R while I crunch numbers. The little ones are so much more alert and active than they had been. They’ve seemed to be on the brink of fledging for hours, though, and after a full day of sitting on the edge of my seat it’s getting a little anticlimactic. They’ll probably fly away the moment I step away from my desk.
Did you see this video?:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/Pungh0Li0/videos/6/
A near-fledgling from a previous clutch loses its balance…
Ha, yes, I saw that one last night! I love the up-the-skirt view of the little birdie while it contemplates the ground.
I really enjoyed the Peregrines last year. Looking forward to nesting season.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention UIC’s falcon cam, two floors above the Spousal Unit’s office. She used to be directly below them.
For years, house finches have nested in my front porch light fixture. It’s such a treat to watch the process from gathering nesting materials to the last baby flying away. And the cats think this is reality TV laid on just for them!
They sit in front of the door looking up at the activity and say “ah,ah,ah”, while their tails twitch.
Shades of Dawkins’ illustration of how the genetic “know how” creates a new organism, not from some misterious center but the knowledge and replication of the DNA “writings” of each “mother” cell at the extremities. This always comes to mind when I see flocks of birds and even swarming insects. But, I must admit this was a better animation of the phenomena.
I’m just glad we have the actual camera images to look at.
If I had to compose my mental image of the nesting activites solely from Professor C’s delicate characterization above, I’m afraid my fondness for the hummingbirds might wane a bit.
;-P
Ay Caramba! I forgot the delicate Coyne narrative quote:
while mother comes and goes constantly, cramming her food-filled beak down their gaping maws.
The Scottish Seabird Centre has webcams – not as good as the full action of the proper cameras but you can see the Gannets on Bass Rock here –
http://www.seabird.org/webcam-live.asp
They make hummingbirds look delicate!
It’s getting less disturbing as the chicks get older, but seeing the female hummingbird feed the very young chicks makes me cringe. It’d be a bit like watching a human baby eat rice cereal off a steak knife, except I keep reminding myself that the hummingbirds have had many generations to work out the details.
The Peregrine Project in Hamilton Ontario is up and running
http://falcons.hamiltonnature.org/?widelarge
Dunno if anybody caught it, but when mom-hummingbird shows up and starts feeding one of the kids, the other kid sticks his beak in his(her) brother’s/sister’s mouth, the one being fed by mom, and, I suppose, attempts to skim off a little extra for himself.
Sneaky what genes will do for you.
Nobody here has ever tried to glom onto his brother’s breakfast food (or inheritance), of course.
er… I used to finish off little brother’s baby porridge!
😀
I’m happy to announce that both baby hummers fledged yesterday..
And the nest is now sadly empty 🙁
Aw, I missed it. Thanks, Detox. The camera operator has posted a video of the event with a brief timeline, I see. It’s fun to observe the indecision. 😀