Thursday 23 April 2009

Quick Change

(Blog entry updated) A changeover on the nest was captured in still images yesterday morning. The female left and was quickly replaced by the male, showing all four eggs looking, well, eggcellent. Pictures were captured at 30 second intervals. This is followed by a video clip from this morning of a changeover by the female who almost pushed the male off the eggs. What a great view we get of her eggs in the morning sunlight.










In answer to a recent question left on our blog, although we have three cameras working all the time, we only have two image feeds on the web. The pictures they show do get varied as activity changes - our second page currently shows a "multi-view" with all three camera images merged into one. Images change every 8 seconds or so. We do not currently have the capability to offer live audio/video.

Apologies from the Project Team for not responding to all questions recently. In our own way each of us is very busy, and free time is rather at a premium.

21 comments:

Terri said...

Only one week to go - getting egg-cited now!! Has anyone noticed we've dropped down to 26 in the Birding Top 500 Ranking? I bet that will change once the chicks have hatched, the site will be a real hot potato then! (Also, I wonder why the Recent Comments down left side of blog has stopped updating?)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for showing the images as I haven't seen the eggs for many days. Happy St. George's Day!
Jennie, Hong Kong.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jennie for your St George's Day greetings - I'd like to say "Happy Birthday Shakespeare" too! Thanks also Colin for the hatching estimate, I've put it in my diary. Somebody asked about the fate of previous nestlings. I'd love to think they're all living happy and contented lives but common sense says this is probably not true. One way we can all contribute to knowledge is to always take a quick look at any dead bird. My first instinct is always to look away - but it might just be a BTO ringed bird. Just check out the instructions on the ring and get the details to the address shown on the ring.
I have business in Stafford on Sunday and upon consulting my maps, see it's not a million miles from beloved Derby. All being well, I'll come and see a real live version of events then!

Anonymous said...

Pax Canada
Happy St. George's Day.
Sue, lucky you to be able to get to Derby :)

Anonymous said...

It looks like the sponsorship problem has been solved. Jurys' Inn should certainly be willing to provide some support for all this free advertising that has recently appeared. I wonder if they know about the peregrines webcam and decided to take advantage?
Chris, Alrewas

Anonymous said...

I am getting very excited, can't wait for the chicks to appear now!

Terri said...

I just had a quick look at the Fort Dunlop webcam to see if anything was happening and got quite excited to see a peregrine sitting in the corner of the (empty) nestbox but on closer inspection realised it was only a lonely old pigeon. Good job there are no peregrines there really or he would be on the menu :)

Love the video clip showing the eggs at changeover. They'll start chirping in a few days no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Sue, it'd be nice if you can make a trip to Derby, I'm sure you'll enjoy seeing the nestbox, the Cathedral and may be the peregrines all in front of you.

Chris of Alrewas, what an idea to get sponsorship from Jury's Inn! I wonder when the name was unveiled (yesterday afternoon ?) It is big enough to be seen from the pudding cam, isn't it! Jennie, Hong Kong.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennie, it looks like the Jurys Inn was covered up by scaffolding and netting during construction. They now appear to be taking all of this down thus revealing the sign.
Chris, Alrewas.

Anonymous said...

Thanks all for your encouragement to get to Derby - I certainly will be popping over. I've been several times before, but not since last year. I'd never even considered visiting before, it's entirely the birds that have done it. I'm so glad because apart from the birds, I've learned that Derby a really nice place. I just wish the weather forecast was nicer than I believe it is. Apart from looking at the birds, I shall of course go into the lovely cathedral and spare a thought and a prayer for Froona. I shall also try to get a better picture than my old peregrine-less Bucks County Hall (I'm told they're still around - I'm beginning to suspect they nest elsewhere and just roost on County Hall) We may not have a peregrine here, but the local birders tell me we've just had a white stork in the vicinity. Bizarre!

Anonymous said...

Pax Canada 9.32am
yes it would be nice if JI could cough up a donation, if not I wont be staying there if I get over there, though I doubt I could afford a room there LOL looks expensive!
enjoy your trip Sue

Anonymous said...

thanks for all the wonderful picutres and reports.

will be following more closely now.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pax Canada, room rate at Jurys Inn won't be too expensive, just like Holiday Inn in N.Amer. The building looks modern but I think it's too modern for Derby. Are you somewhere on West Coast? Jennie, Hong Kong.

Terri said...

Sorry to go off subject, but has anyone any thoughts on the pigeon that's taken up residence at Fort Dunlop? That looks like an egg in the old peregrine scrape, or is it just remains of the old egg or even a big stone? Is the pigeon incubating in the corner perhaps?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/webcams/peregrine_falcon_live_webcam.shtml

BTW, promise I'll get round to making a donation to the peregrine project some time next week :)

Terri said...

Last bit of FD URL should be:

peregrine_falcon_live_webcam.shtml

Anonymous said...

Pax Canada 12.20am
Hi Jenny, thanks for the info, yes I am on the west coast, about about
an hour east of Vancouver

Peregrine Project Member (Nick M.) said...

@Terri The Birmingham falcon site now has a pigeon nesting in the far right corner at the back. The central egg is the old peregrine's egg.

Here's a shortcut to the live weblink. http://is.gd/pPQo

And here's a screen capture I took of both eggs using a technique that Froona taught me last year. http://twitpic.com/3kdh9

I recommend anyone wanting to post long weblinks to consider using www.is.gd as it's a really neat tool.

I'm planning to update our peregrine homepage on our City Council's website sometime over the weekend so as to acknowledge everyone's generous donations recently. I'll let you know when it's done.

Nick M.

Karen Anne said...

Boo, hoo, hoo. I accessed
http://is.gd/pPQo
and got "not available in your area" for the video.

Country restrictions strike again? We do get some BBC stuff here in the U.S.

Project Member (Derby Cathedral) said...

Hi Sue in Bucks
In case you still intend coming to Derby on Sunday I should warn you that we have a St George's Day Scouts Service in the Cathedral at 3.00pm. This should finish by about 4.00 with Evensong at 6.00. I am on duty in the Cathedral until about 5.00 so please make yourself known it would be good to see you.

Tony

Anonymous said...

Hi Tony
I'll be over to the cathedral as soon as the Badger Trust Members Day and AGM in Stafford has finished (I love all God's creatures!) It would be brilliant if that were in time for the St George's Day Scouts Service and even better if I caught evensong (I admire your choral accomplishments there, as a VERY amateurish singer myself) If I don't make it before you've gone, I'll leave you a big "hello" in the visitors' book.

Anonymous said...

Pax Canada
just saw a change over :)