LATEST NEWS

The Utica Peregrine chicks continue growing by leaps and bounds. After only 2 weeks we are seeing the beginnings of feathers developing on their wings and tail. The parents’ nest duties have changed again over the last few days with Ares taking a more active role in feeding the chicks. Many of us have seen examples of the parents holding prey above the young, allowing them to tear at it some before a normal feeding begins. Meanwhile our Utica Peregrine Falcon team has enabled our backup camera. Though our current streaming service will not carry more than one camera feed at a time, having a second camera in standby mode is good news in case the main camera goes down or gets hit with more whitewash. Later on when the chicks start congregating closer to the outside edge of the box, we may switch to the 2nd camera since it would allow a better view. Obviously it would be ideal to be able to stream both cameras simultaneously. Perhaps your contributions to this project will help us to do that before this breeding season is over!

Some may have noticed some unfamiliar terms showing up in the comment section of this blog. For the most part these are terms used by ornithologists, wildlife biologists and falconers when referring to raptors and specifically to Peregrine Falcons. “Eyases” refers to Peregrine chicks or nestlings. A “tiercel” is a male falcon while the female is referred to simply as “falcon”. Early on when planning this website and blog we made the decision not to use terminology that wasn’t immediately accessible to a general audience, even though it’s highly likely that regular nest cam viewers know all of these terms. Of course people commenting are welcomed to use what ever terminology they like in their own comments. I just thought that we should define these terms in order to avoid confusion.

Today Astrid seemed to be signalling her desire to leave the Utica Peregrine Falcon reality show. For the first time she was seen pecking like crazy at the poor camera. One of the chicks had a go at it as well. Seriously, we speculate that the falcons are seeing reflected motion in the lens and are mistaking it for the movement of insects. Insects in the nest box are becoming increasingly common as the floor gets covered by droppings, bits of prey, feathers and pellets. Meanwhile the chicks are becoming more and more ambulatory and more independent. Seeing the chicks now, with their strange folds of skin and rudimentary wings, I can’t help but be reminded of Dodo birds. Look them up and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m sure that most of you have noticed the strange blob that recently appeared on the right side of the nest cam’s field of view. For several days, the Peregrine Chicks have been liberally spraying “whitewash” out of their back ends and one of them scored a hit on the camera’s housing. The good new is that the chicks are eating well. The bad new is that we may loose our view of the nest. If the camera lens becomes too fogged, it may be necessary to switch to a backup camera. If this happens there will be an interruption in the streaming video while we switch lines and enable the other camera.

 

Anyone that has been periodically checking the video from the falcon box can see that Peregrine Chicks are rapidly growing in size. The infertile egg is still there and it continues to give us something to measure their size against. This week for the first time we are also seeing some evolution in their behavior. Besides walking around a little, at least one of them has been seen preening. Also some “wing” flapping was seen by the oldest chick. Another interesting development is that during the start of feeding sessions, the parents have both been seen dangling food above the chicks’ bills. By doing this they are training the youngsters how to reach up and tear at their meal.