Shortly before the events seen in this clip, our male peregrine (tiercel) had flown in and landed on top of Derby Cathedral's tower where he had plucked the prey item in full view of the female, albeit some distance away from her. Then they flew off together and immediately landed on the nest scrape where this clip starts. We see the male peregrine falcon pass food to his much larger mate as part of their courtship ritual. Notice how she flies off but lands some distance below with the offering.
I'm sorry I couldn't include the first clip, too. Two hours of attempts to render the video into an editable format failed totally, probably caused by a fauty recording from our Philips DVD recorder.
BBC Springwatch. Other recordings have been more successful. Many of you will be aware of the night-time hunting sequence we captured last December which proved to the first such clip ever recorded and placed in the public domain. A copy of this sequence has just been sent off to the BBC's Natural History Unit in Bristol for inclusion in a Springwatch Special on Urban Wildlife. Look out for this in the next few months.
A check of the tower cam recorders on Friday showed that we've not yet captured any mating sequences on top of the Cathedral. By this time last year we had already this occurring. Whether we've missed them, or they are now occurring at other locations such as on the nearby Jurys Inn building, or if the colder weather has simply delayed them, we simply don't know at this stage. There was an interesting series of comments left on the last post about whether or not webcams like ours are obtrusive. Thanks your thoughts on this so far.
On Sunday 14th March, a moorhen was caught and brought back to the top of the Cathedral Tower in Derby. This screenshot was captured by HelenSara and placed on our Flickr Group Pool.
28 comments:
Thanks for the clip, things seem to be moving along.
One on the nest edge and what looks like evidence of feathers.
On the subject of intrusiveness -
Peregrines choose to nest in places remote or inaccessible to people. If they were aware of thousands of eager spectators with faces (figuratively) pressed to their nest, I feel sure they would not be there.
I take on board the advantages in terms of knowledge, and help for the birds, but much of their beauty remains in their wildness.
My qualms really kicked in when we were all asked to watch for mating behaviour.
Thank you for showing the video. It was great to see. I think things are moving along nicely and soon the Falcons will be raising a new family. Exciting new season ahead I do believe. Good luck.
Oh yes and Happy Mother's Day. We don't celebrate it till May in Canada.
I'm getting distinctly uneasy about the direction that spyinthesky's comments are taking.
Apart from my misgivings - there's been a peregrine on the tower for a while.
@spyinthesky
As Terry more eloquently put in the previous thread – they are not aware, else they’d be off. It’s the very fact that these birds *are* wild that makes it such a fascinating and educational thing to watch – whatever they do. And a privilege. The Derby team have given me the opportunity to learn about the lives of these birds in ways in which a dull classroom never did, never could. And, I suspect, that is the same for many others.
RJ
Ironically, but with perfect timing, at 410am local time, right now there is a peregrine pressed so close against the tower cam, it's hard to make out any detail until it moves !
There's a peregrine with prey on the ledge near the tower cam.
And there's one on the nestbox ledge, rhs - waiting for a gift of food? The one on the ledge is busy plucking & pulling at the prey, which has bright yellow legs & feet.
I think I may just have missed a food-exchange. There is a peregrine on the scrape-side ledge, eating, and another very close to the tower cam.
Thanks for the video clip; it’s good to see they are still willing to nest here. I am looking forward to this season and seeing the whole thing, for the first time; I missed the egg laying and hatching last year.
I see the tiercel has taken his usual pose at the tower cam! And the falcon is sitting on the right-hand side of the nest ledge. Lovely shots of both !!
The prey was a moorhen - I saw its head earlier this morning (red and yellow beak) and the report of yellow legs confirms the identification. Moorhens are taken quite often.
Nick B (DWT)
One of the things that occasionally causes a problem with the project to reintroduce the endangered whooping crane to the US is, despite efforts to avoid this, the birds get comfortable around humans, showing up at bird feeders, walking up to humans, and so on, instead of wild. And of course, wild is the goal.
So maybe if the peregrines knew we were around, they'd be lining up outside the local pubs :-)
Also, the animals who come to my deck feeders know I'm nearby. My reading chair is right at the sliding glass doors and I get a fishy eye every so often, or even a demand from a squirrel or hummingbird to refill the feeders if I'm a bit late. That hasn't prevented mating behavior on the deck.
Both birds were tucking into the moorhen this morning. Posted some screen shots on Flickr.
One on the tower, another on the nestbox ledge, rhs.
one close up on the top cam, one on the nest ledge
One right up close to the pudding cam, another on the nestbox ledge, scrape side.
bird on the edge of the scrape and
the other one is cuddled up to the tower cam having a snooze!!!
intrusive??? i think not!!!!
steph, canada
A mating took place at 18.18 on the tower ledge, following courtship activity in the scrape.
I'm sorry I couldn't get an image - I haven't the faintest idea how to do it.
Bird on the tower, head tucked in. Fast asleep 23.49
One just arrived on the tower ledge with prey. The other's on the nestbox ledge rhs, looking up
One just arrived on nestbox ledge, scrape side. It's looking up & around.
There seems to be something in the far corner (back) of the nestbox, rhs, unless it's just litter or a trick of the light.
Both birds have been in the same places for some time - one on the tower close up to the wall, the other on the nestbox ledge rhs, facing inwards but looking around.
one on the tower cam with prey, one on nest ledge
That thing in the corner was prey. I saw a peregrine in the nestbox feeding from it. You can see it at the front of the nestbox now, a smallish bird I think.
I have a question: These Peregrines have been breeding for a few years now. Is there any evidence that their offspring have set up their own breeding sites and if so, are they in the same general area? If not, when might they start? Just interested.
Afilsdesigner: we know nothing about the whereabouts of any of the young peregrines that have fledged from the Derby nest. If they have survived (and many won't have) then they take 2-3 years to come into breeding condition.
The Cathedral pair would not allow another pair to nest anywhere close to them, so the nearest we might expect to find a new pair setting up territory would probably be in a neighbouring town or city. There are established pairs already in Burton and Nottingham so any young prospecting bird might have to go elsewhere.
Alternatively if one of the birds from an established pair were to die, then the remaining bird might pair up with a younger bird, even conceivably with its own offspring as happened in Bath last year I think.
Nick B (DWT)
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