Wading through the last four days of tower-top camera footage in five minute intervals, I was delighted to come across proof that our birds have been actively mating. The short sequence below was filmed on Sunday 8th March at 6pm, but only retrieved from Derby Cathedral this lunchtime.
Just as last year the male swoops in with an amazing flying approach, and in this low resolutoin clip it's just possible to see him at the very start of the clip on the extreme right side against the sky. After mating, we see him fly off, but she remained on the top of the tower, roosting there with her head seemingly tucked into her wing until just after first light the next morning. (6.30am)
The mating sequence of most birds is so quick that's it's hard to be certain we haven't missed anything, though we've checked up until this lunchtime and seen nothing. There are almost certain to be a few more such intimate moments, so it's worth keeping a watch on the tower camera over the next few days, or on the tower itself if you live in our city. Do please leave a comment if you see any special moments by leaving the date and our local time (from the header in the webcam image) so we can go and retrieve footage of interest.
Judging by the timetable shown in a previous blog entry this month, it does seem likely that we will now have the first egg laid before the end of March.
Peregrine Falcons first nested on Derby's Cathedral, England, in 2006. Our Peregrine Project is now run by a partnership between Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Derby City Council, Derby Cathedral and the Cathedral Quarter. Here is what's happening in 2024. . .
How exiting!! And so it begins...
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome!
ReplyDeleteJust for fun, here is a link to the Central Park red tailed hawks, with Lola, the female getting a bit confused (or perhaps asserting women's rights :-) and landing on top of the male, Pale Male:
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Wow!
ReplyDeleteAwesome photo's Karen.
Thanks for sharing them with us.
Lynne
peregrine on the nest platform eating dinner.
ReplyDeleteuk local time 17.48.....
mississauga, canada
Peregrine preening by the pudding cam.
ReplyDeletenot had a chance to view this page so far this year but now that im back im glad the peregrins are still mating here i have had a lot of enjoyment over the last few years watching them mate and raise their young i fine watching the young grow the best part even if it is a bit sad when they finally fledge and we dont see them anymore,,,lets wish them all the sucess for the coming year.
ReplyDeleteJust seen Perigrines mating!!! Approx 9:50 am. I logged on to see female resting in her usual favourite spot and was keeping half an eye on her for a while when suddenly the camera was obscured by the male. He then proceded to fly up again, land behind the female and mate with her (very quickly) and then he moved to the nest scrape where he did some shuffling about before moving out on to the edge and having a really good grooming session. Obviously pleased with himself! It was very exciting to catch the moment.
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