Brief history : You are looking through a camera in a nest box that was installed in 2008 on the 23rd floor of the tower of the main building of the University of Montreal (pavillon Roger-Gaudry). The nest box is on the south-east side of the tower facing the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery. With luck you will see a pair of peregrine falcons - Spirit and Roger- who first arrived in 2007 and then successfully raised two young for the first time in 2009.
Roger (male) Unbanded. Spirit (female) Bands: black over green 93/E, hatched in 2004 at the Hilliard Road Bridge in Ohio.
I watched this nest this morning and again this afternoon. Spirit and Roger are mating every time I look in so eggs can't be far away. I watched one of the falcons - I don't know them apart yet - work inside the box and actually scrape up all the feathers and whatever else that is on their floor, into a nice little nest bowl. I've never seen a falcon do that before! They did make a scrape but then seemed to gather the material into a bowl shape.
This is a great cam with panning and zoom. The IR isn't so good though. Good thing falcons don't really do anything at night anyway. Leaves more time to watch owls.
I made a little video this morning of the falcons mating. I can't record sound, thanks to Windows 8, so you'll have to do your own audio.
patticake
has attached images to this post
No rights to view attachments. Only file names are shown. Register now!
UdeM 3-27-14.PNG
pefa 3-27-14.PNG
Hiker
has attached images to this post
No rights to view attachments. Only file names are shown. Register now!
Falcon chest feathers.PNG
Falcon feet with bands.PN
zooooom.PNG
Falcon chest feathers.PNG
Falcon feet with bands.PN
zooooom.PNG
The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~~ Author Unknown
Spirit laid her first egg this morning at 6:37 a.m.
patticake
has attached images to this post
No rights to view attachments. Only file names are shown. Register now!
1st egg 3-29-14.PNG
See my egg 3-29-14.PNG
The weather is horrible in Montreal today. I noticed Spirit stayed in the box on her egg last night and wondered why since falcons delay incubation. I guess she sensed it was too cold and her egg would freeze? She's still there tonight, too. It will be interesting to watch now come hatch time if she lays more eggs.
patticake
has attached images to this post
No rights to view attachments. Only file names are shown. Register now!
Snow 3-30-14.PNG
I watched Spirit and Roger for awhile this afternoon and chatted with fauconsudem that is listed as the broadcaster there. Seems Roger loves to sit on his eggs and has been seen sitting 6 hours straight without getting up. He was sitting on the eggs while I was watching and Spirit came back from her break and wanted him to get up. He completely ignored her squawks and chatter and pretended he couldn't hear. LOL She let him have his way for a good 30 min. before she finally had enough and forced him out. He really, really wanted to stay though. They now have 2 eggs in the nest.
patticake
has attached images to this post
No rights to view attachments. Only file names are shown. Register now!
2 eggs 4-2-14.PNG
Roger ignoring Spirit 4-2
Spirit has bands and hear
making him leave 4-2-14.P
We gathered at UdeM to watch the eggs hatch today. Roger (dad) was on the nest when the 1st one hatched and I was so afraid he was going to hurt the new little chick. It was so tiny and fragile looking and still rolled up in a ball the way it must have been inside the egg. Roger seemed confused and was more intent on getting the broken egg shell back underneath him than he was the chick. Finally he seemed to realize what had happened and tried to pick it up by it's little wing to get it back underneath him! I missed the second hatch that happened right after the first. I'm glad Spirit is back on the nest now. Hopefully she will be a little more careful with these little ones! Now all we need is for the 3rd egg to hatch.
That was an amazing 6 minutes, patti. Thanks for catching that on video. Sometimes I wonder if birds have bad near vision. You could almost see the light go ON over his head. Good Job Roger!!
The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~~ Author Unknown
This is the sweetest video of their 1st feeding. They are so tiny and can't even sit up without falling over. Mom is a pro! Watch how she puts tiny bites in those little mouths. Awwwwwww.........
Here's some info on the history of Spirit & Roger and how to tell the apart. I'll just look at the pics while we wait for somebody to translate this for us.
Raptor-Chat
0
Print view
Thu Mar 27, 2014 5:58 pm
reply
Sometimes I wonder if birds have bad near vision. You could almost see the light go ON over his head. Good Job Roger!!
