Just-hatched baby falcons at City Hall

[abcdefz]

Yeah. You probably won't be able to see 'em, but they're on camera here (http://sanjose.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=91).

Here's the diary (http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/2007_nest_diarySJ.htm) from the last batch. The photo about halfway down of one of the chicks warning Brian off is pretty funny.

These falcons are amazing. They dive bomb pigeons at City hall right out of the air and take them back for food.

[taquitos]

Awww! wook at the baby fowcons!

i used to want a peregrine falcon when i was little, after i read My Side of the Mountain and that kid had one.

They are the fastest moving animal, clocking in at diving speeds of up to 90mph!

[na§tee]

all i can see is a big black motherfucker. that is certainly not a baby. move, bitch! move!
EDIT: christ, maybe it is. falcons are pretty huge after all. don't look at me, i'm british.

i hate pigeons. i hate when you're sat in george square eating your lunch people decide to feed them by throwing their crumbs on the ground and they all come swarming next to you. you can feel a hot breeze of GERMS enveloping your food. thanks, citizen! (y) pigeons are rats with wings. grey squirrels are rats with pretty tails. FACT.

[abcdefz]

It's the mom, I think.

You can see what the chicks look like if you scroll down on the diary page.

[MC Moot]

Trick!...we've been at it in this city for 20 some years...it's great to see the recovery since the ban of DDT's...I love birds of prey...(y)

http://www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca/past_news.html

Pergerine feather given to me by Aboriginal student...(y)

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x265/mcmoot/peregrine.jpg

[abcdefz]

Nice!

[MC Moot]

quick!...she's sticking her head out....:D

http://www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca/cam1.html

*wishes she was in San Jose,returns to box*

[abcdefz]

I can't see it.

I don't have admin rights on my computer, so I can't install Java or whatever that is... :(

[na§tee]

i want BABIES goddammit!

someone throw a rock at it.

i josh, i josh! oh, how i josh!

i would link you to a glasgow webcam, but all i can find is george square WITH THE PIGEONS that i will walk across in, oh, four minutes.

[AceFace]

i'm mesmerized by this. <3 momma bird!

[MC Moot]

I've noticed that' theres no nesting material in the box here....:(

http://www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca/cam2.html

[jabumbo]

we've had falcons nesting on the roof of the cathedral of learning here for years!!

tis a shame that the webcam (http://www.tour.pitt.edu/cl_cam.html) is currently down

[AceFace]

she's keeping those babies WARM!

[YoungRemy]

some momma bird was trying to build a nest on top of a lamp outside my screen door. she kept scrapping the whole thing and starting over. I came home the other day and found a cracked egg with yolk all over the floor :(

[abcdefz]

I've always wondered how the chicks don't smother.

A little bit ago she actually got up and rolled one of the eggs and then got back down. I thought maybe another one was hatching.

[MC Moot]

Fastest creature on the planet...(y)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mTPEuFcWk&feature=related

[AceFace]

TWO BABIES!

[AceFace]

holy shit that's gruesome.

[abcdefz]

Cool! You can see them right now.

I don't know what time the dad usually brings food back.

[abcdefz]

I think she's rolled one of the eggs behind her. :confused:

[AceFace]

dad brought food. a whole dead bird. very gross.

[abcdefz]

Cool (y)

[AceFace]

that's a broken egg behind her. there's still one nestled in with the babies it looks like.

did you see both mom and dad!?

[abcdefz]

I missed it.

There were, I think, four eggs total. Two have hatched, or three now?

[abcdefz]

did you see both mom and dad!?



She actually had a different partner last year who disappeared in July. I guess they usually mate for life, so no one knows what happened.
Anyway, two new falcons came and courted her, and this guy won.

[AceFace]

how awesome!

ok i see 2 chicks and an egg. that's it.

[MC Moot]

some momma bird was trying to build a nest on top of a lamp outside my screen door. she kept scrapping the whole thing and starting over. I came home the other day and found a cracked egg with yolk all over the floor :(

When I used to work for the city of Richmond,the electricians spent 1/2 the year rotating the lamps out of street lights and when they found nests in them with or without chicks they used to just throw them to the ground...(!)...I was like you guy's heartless civ's...and they were all like "cowboy up,whiner,"...it was city policy and all...(n)

[abcdefz]

Wow. That really sucks.

[abcdefz]

You called it, AceFace!

The big event happened overnight when two of the fledglings broke through their eggs sometime between 3 and 6 a.m., according to
Evet Loewen, who helps moderate an online forum on the birds. A third baby falcon emerged later in the morning, and around 10:30 a.m.,
the three fledglings could be seen feeding on what appeared to be a giant pigeon.

[na§tee]

a giant pigeon! :eek:

it's definitely from glasgow.

[abcdefz]

a giant pigeon! :eek:

it's definitely from glasgow.



Yeah -- I thought "giant" was overselling it a bit, too.

Though they do get pretty big in that area. There's this one restaurant across the street where, when it's nice, they just leave the front
door propped open. Pigeons brazenly walk in and grab what they can.

[MC Moot]

The GIANT pigeon...shit that made my day...perspective!...thanks..I'm laughin,my mates are laughin,frigin funny...:D

[abcdefz]

I thought about Photoshopping it but fuck it... :D

[MC Moot]

High tales of adventure, intrigue and mystery!...(y)

Over the years, these activities have involved many adventures, but none compare to an experience at a nest on a skyscraper in downtown Calgary in 1996.

Banding that year started as usual. Helmets and leather jackets were donned for protection, as urban-nesting peregrines tend to be far less respectful of human visitors than their rural counterparts. Upon first stepping out onto the nest ledge, the adult male peregrine at the site immediately welcomed the biologists with an all-out assault.


Curiously though, his mate simply muttered a few protest vocalisations and resumed brooding - the bird appeared as tame as a bantam hen! This trusting nature represented a bit of a bonus to the biologists, as they knew the falcon would be relatively easy to identify by reading the number of her leg band from such close range.

However, when the female stood up, the men were shocked to note that several wraps of black electrical tape covered her identification band! When would anyone have had the chance to cover the band with tape? Who would do such a thing?

Curiosity was too much for the biologists. Taking advantage of her passive nature, they simply lifted the female off the nest - that's when things got really strange. Removing the tape from the band, the men discovered that the female was the same bird that had nested in Calgary the year before. Inside the covering, they were amazed to find a note, enclosed and waterproofed in a condom wrapper, which had been written by someone on board a ship! Although badly weathered, the message was clear enough to allow contact with the shipping company in an attempt to get more details.

After a few months of correspondence, the mystery was solved. A Filipino sailor serving as an officer on the German merchant ship had answered the inquiries. Apparently, his ship was sailing from Tampico to Coatzacoalcos, Mexico during the previous autumn when, about 100 miles out to sea, they encountered high winds and very rough seas. As the sailors were securing the vessel during the ensuing hurricane, they noticed a peregrine falcon flying around the ship, apparently about to take refuge aboard. A short time later, the belle of downtown Calgary landed, apparently exhausted, on the rooftop port wing of the bridge. During the height of the storm, the sailors easily approached the bird, captured her, and held her captive until the storm abated. While feeding her, the crew noted the leg bands stamped with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Washington, D.C. They then decided to add their own information in the form of a note, taped to the band. After her winter in Central America, this falcon returned with the message to the concrete canyons of downtown Calgary to become one of the most charismatic 'carrier pigeons' in history.

:cool:

[abcdefz]

That's fanatstic.

Too many exclamation marks, though.

[abcdefz]

Nice angle right now. (http://sanjose.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=91)

[MC Moot]

Awww! wook at the baby fowcons!

i used to want a peregrine falcon when i was little, after i read My Side of the Mountain and that kid had one.!

HELL Yeah!...I missed this earlier...one of my fave young adult reads!...evryone should live in a hollowed out tree for awhile!!!..."Incident at Hawks Hill" was like a companion to it for me....:cool:

http://www.amazon.com/Incident-Hawks-Hill-Allan-Eckert/dp/0316209481

[AceFace]

morning falcon duty reporting in.

[abcdefz]

She looked like she was sleeping when I checked this morning.


I WANNA SEE SOME BREAKFASTING

[abcdefz]

Nope. She's awake now.

ZOOM IN!

[AceFace]

HEY HEY! BREAKFAST IS SERVED!

[abcdefz]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm carrion gooooooodnessss.............

[MC Moot]

Due to extraordinary popularity there is a session limit of 30 minutes

I'm lovin this...(y)..I hope we have a brood here soon...

[AceFace]

her sleepy eyes are so cute.

[abcdefz]

I love watching birds. It's especially cool if you've ever had a bird, because so much bird behavior is similar...


But, boy, I sure am glad my mom didn't lay on top of me when I was a baby. :D

[AceFace]

you are toooo cute sometimes a-z. :rolleyes:

i had an amazon parrot when i was younger. i used to think it was so gross when daddy fed him chicken legs.

[MC Moot]

I wish there was audio every once awhile,usually when she shifts,she coos at them....:o

[abcdefz]

i had an amazon parrot when i was younger. i used to think it was so gross when daddy fed him chicken legs.




My cockatiel used to eat my chicken breast with me sometimes. I always thought that was kinda creepy, but now it makes more sense, I guess.

[abcdefz]

usually when she shifts,she coos at them....:o



Translation:

This is pretty FUCKING uncomfortable, kids. If you're not out of here in three weeks, I start charging rent. FOUR weeks and I kick your ass
off this building, myself.

Oh -- plus, your father and I can dive bomb you at 130 miles per hour. So I'm just saying...

[AceFace]

i wanna hear the coo! :(

[abcdefz]

Next meal! (http://sanjose.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=91)


Huh.

Well, it was.

[MC Moot]

Bird stories!...Heres a kicker: when my mom passed one of the things she left to my sister was a solid jade Buddha…my sister was an art student and ended up moving continuously, so during one of these transitions she left the Buddha with her roommates mother for safekeeping as she realized she was slightly less than responsible at the time…a couple of years pass, she loses touch with ex-roommate and discovers her mother has moved…more years pass…my sister and her husband adopt a cockatiel “Mr Birdy Num Num’s”…another year passes, my cousin comes to visit and during her stay inadvertently somehow let’s the bird escape!...a few weeks later my heartbroken sister is walking back from her job in a neighborhood across town from her place when she looks up in this tree on a front lawn and there’s the frigin bird!...she start’s talking to him and he’s talking back, bobbing his head, very excited…but he’s not coming down, you know…so my sister in desperation goes and knocks on the front door of the house to see if maybe they have a ladder or something so she could scale the tree and recover him (she’s so cute!)…any way’s the door swings open and, yes, it’s the mother of her ex-roommate standing there who say’s “I’ve been thinking about you all week, come in!”…she walks across the room where the Buddha is sitting on an endtable picks it up hand’s it to my sister and say’s “this belongs with you”…sister breaks into hysterical tears…big hugs ensue, explains about the bird and when they go back outside Birdy Num Num is gone!....moral of the story,friends,there is most definitely a higher power at work amongst us!

:)(y):)

[MC Moot]

P.S: this afternoon I'm setting up the LCD projector in Kindergarten and I'm gonna show the kids some action!

[abcdefz]

That's cool.

They've got telescopes set up at ground level for school kids during the day. Some kid interviewed in the paper was pretty unimpressed with
that, since you only get glimpses of the birds if they're taking off or arriving, and he'd already seen them up close on the web cam.

Jaded at eight years. Wow.

[AceFace]

Bird stories!...Heres a kicker: when my mom passed one of the things she left to my sister was a solid jade Buddha…my sister was an art student and ended up moving continuously, so during one of these transitions she left the Buddha with her roommates mother for safekeeping as she realized she was slightly less than responsible at the time…a couple of years pass, she loses touch with ex-roommate and discovers her mother has moved…more years pass…my sister and her husband adopt a cockatiel “Mr Birdy Num Num’s”…another year passes, my cousin comes to visit and during her stay inadvertently somehow let’s the bird escape!...a few weeks later my heartbroken sister is walking back from her job in a neighborhood across town from her place when she looks up in this tree on a front lawn and there’s the frigin bird!...she start’s talking to him and he’s talking back, bobbing his head, very excited…but he’s not coming down, you know…so my sister in desperation goes and knocks on the front door of the house to see if maybe they have a ladder or something so she could scale the tree and recover him (she’s so cute!)…any way’s the door swings open and, yes, it’s the mother of her ex-roommate standing there who say’s “I’ve been thinking about you all week, come in!”…she walks across the room where the Buddha is sitting on an endtable picks it up hand’s it to my sister and say’s “this belongs with you”…sister breaks into hysterical tears…big hugs ensue, explains about the bird and when they go back outside Birdy Num Num is gone!....moral of the story,friends,there is most definitely a higher power at work amongst us!

:)(y):)

i LOVE stories like that! they give me the creeps though.

[abcdefz]

Yeah... she looks a little pooped right now.

[MC Moot]

The High Cost of Housing in Calgary Continues Unabated

This is not condusive to baby's,the making therof or laying that follows...:(

Current News - April 27th, 2008 - After the fight on last Sunday morning in which the returning satellite telemetry falcon, "Homeless", was evicted again, some of us thought the resident 2007-2008 female, "5/9 (HV)" was set for a comfortable spring and summer. Not so! As observed by Wayne Nelson on the evening of Tuesday April 29th there was another dispute at the UofA nestbox, and this time the 2007-2008 female was evicted. Alastair Franke had read the new female's band number within about two hours of the eviction. The new nest box owner is tagged as "R7 (HV)".

Forty years ago Peregrine biologists did not think Peregrines fought, or if the falcons did it was extremely rarely. With Peregrines nesting in cities, with numerous falcon observers, and with webcams at many falcon nest sites, more Peregrine fights have been documented in the last fifteen years than in all previous history, albeit still very few. This second fight within the same season is quite interesting to witness, and to observe as the season unfolds.

http://www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca/cam2.html

[abcdefz]

I can't load the plug-in. :(

One of our eggs was a dud, it seems.

They're getting big. (http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/falconcameraSJ_ms.htm)

[MC Moot]

^damn...awesome view right now..the current tenant looks pissed!...(y)

http://www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca/cam2.html

[abcdefz]

The San José chicks are still hungry. Mom or Dad just flew off... maybe some blood and guts here shortly...

[AceFace]

yeah, i can't DL that crazy Canadian plug in either!

[MC Moot]

I love it,they're stepping all over each other,the box or closed roost is a good idea as in nature they're known to push siblings right off cliff ledge nests...survival of the fittest or hungriest...fratracide smatracide...:eek:

[MC Moot]

yeah, i can't DL that crazy Canadian plug in either!

Hey!..we're not the ones who are crazy,you're the ones that are crazy..we're not out of order, you're out of order!...:mad::):mad:

[abcdefz]

I love it,they're stepping all over each other,the box or closed roost is a good idea as in nature they're known to push siblings right off cliff ledge nests...survival of the fittest or hungriest...fratracide smatracide...:eek:



My siblings used to push me out of the crib all the time. To no avail.

[abcdefz]

yeah, i can't DL that crazy Canadian plug in either!



Really? I can't download it just because I don't have permissions on this computer to install programs. I didn't realize there was an
actual problem with it.

[MC Moot]

My siblings used to push me out of the crib all the time. To no avail.

I swear I'm gonna write a kid's book,using you as the protagonist,parents drop you on your head,wicked siblings,being wicked to you,A-Z perserving,transforming/blooming into a strong independant,righteous young adult...I just can't decide which member of the animal kingdom to make you into...:D

[abcdefz]

Aw, well, actually the crib thing was a joke.

My mom did try to kill me, though. First as a sperm then as an infant.

[abcdefz]

Oh:

Cockroach, I think, is what you're looking for.

[abcdefz]

Gettin' big. (http://sanjose.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=91)

They just got banded last week. Two girls, one boy, one dead egg.

[abcdefz]

Feeding time!

[MC Moot]

That's awesome...we still have no eggs,yet...but I see she is in her box all the time,so maybe that means something...if not I hope they get some eggs for her to foster...

http://www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca/cam2.html

[abcdefz]

That site still doesn't work for me, which is kinda unfair.

[MC Moot]

WE'VE GOT EGGS! :)

2 little brown ones,she's barely moved in 2 days,finally she got off them for about 30 seconds just now!...(y)

http://www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca/cam2.html

p.s: if you can't see the website suggest this: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/safari.html

[abcdefz]

I don't have permissions to install any programs on this computer, that's the thing.

[abcdefz]

From the Mercury News (http://blogs.mercurynews.com/pizarro/2008/05/29/update-on-high-flying-drama-for-city-hall-peregrine-falcon/#more-271) website:


Update on high-flying drama for City Hall peregrine falcon

By Sal Pizarro
Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am in Falcons, San Jose.

It turns out that after I wrote this morning’s column item about the first flight of one of the three peregrine falcon chicks nesting at
San Jose City Hall, there was a lot of drama that still went on later in the evening.

To recap, the male chick (or eyas, as they’re known) took flight Wednesday afternoon, a few days earlier than expected, and perched
himself in a tree near the Ridder Gate on San Fernando Street at San Jose State University’s campus. For those unfamiliar with the
geography, that’s essentially across the street from City Hall, where the little guy — still officially known only as 93P — was born.
Alerted by falcon fan Evet Loewen, volunteers and biologists from the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group assembled to check
out 93P, who was also being watched over by mom and dad — Clara and Carlos.

A little after 6 p.m., everyone figured that he would be spending the night in the tree and most people went about their evenings.
Loewen went back to her City Hall office on the 15th floor (where she works as a deputy city attorney) to return her camera
equipment and Glenn Stewart and Janet Linthicum from the SCPBRG also left.

But that was when 93P decided it was time to head home for the night. He attempted to fly back to the nest box, which is located
outside on of the upper floors of City Hall, but he didn’t make it there.

“He couldn’t gain the altitude and struck the building,” Loewen told me Thursday morning. Fortunately, a volunteer watcher named
Prabha Venu was observing the whole scene from the nearby Fourth Street Garage. She rushed down to where the falcon had landed
and saw him sitting on a sidewalk near a small tree. While she was assessing the situation, the little tiercel spotted her and decided to
run away into the middle of the street.

Venu decided she needed to catch him before he got hurt, using a towel and an apple box that Glenn Stewart placed in the area in
case of just such an emergency. “I get to the middle of the street very slowly and cautiously, and he goes into defensive posture —
on his back, wings spread out and beak and talons up and he was panting,” she wrote in an e-mail account on the San Jose falcons
online forum.

With help from an onlooker, she wrapped the tiercel in the towel and got him into the box. Stewart, who had been called back,
examined him in a darkened men’s room on the 15th floor and decided it would be best if he spent the night in the cozy confines of
Loewen’s City Hall office.

Early Thursday morning, he was lowered back from the roof of City Hall onto the ledge, where his watchful parents were waiting.
To keep him from attempting to fly in fright, he was sprayed with a little water. Loewen told me that while the falcon is drying itself
in the sun, it can get its bearings. And that’s where he remains this morning, probably a little shaken up but in good health.

Some might say that it’s wrong for people to intervene is nature like Venu did, but I’m pretty glad that we’ve got a cadre of people
watching out for our adopted falcons. You can learn more about the falcons on the City of San Jose’s Web site.

[abcdefz]

One of the babies died. (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9620754?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com)

[Lyman Zerga]

believe me, it had a better life than KFChickens

[abcdefz]

True.