The pictures below were pasted to our Flickr Photo Pool.
Well done to HelenSara who posted the image below within just a few minutes of the first glimpse of the three eggs.
And in daylight on Monday morning:
As the grass around Derby Cathedral is being mown prior to the Queen's visit on 1st April 2010, our female peregrine takes time out from keeping her eggs warm. This suggests that incuibation has not yet started, and that a fourth egg is on the way.
48 comments:
Fantastic news to wake up to! I was waiting and waiting last night but had to go to bed in the end. Hope we get another egg - that would be great.
A fourth egg seems very likely....this is the fifth year that the falcon has been egg-laying so she is 'in her prime' and four eggs is the 'normal' clutch size. Five is rather unusual and bringing up four chicks in that tray is probably as many as she, or he (or we) would want!
Nick B (DWT)
Is there something wrong with the rightmost egg? That's not a crack, is it?
Cams frozen
It might be worth checking the footage around 8.43pm as I thought I could see three eggs around this time but couldn't be sure with the female hovering over them.
Wow 3 eggs now, wonderful news. The Queen coming to visit. Oh boy how magnificent will that be? Wish I could be there for that one.
congratulations.
We left a comment at 8.45pm Sunday 28th to say we thought a 3rd egg had been laid... Mo and Pete Cole Belper.
PS Cams Frozen!!!!!
@ Loui: Well done for getting your screenshot - I bet your class will be very impressed!
Cameras still frozen.
Cameras still frozen.
Just logged on and can see the 3 eggs clearly. I checked before I went to bed last night but no sign of any and that was around 10.30p.m. Now waiting for the 4th. Is there any chance she could lay more than 4?
Cams back, many thanks team. Sorry for the duplicate posts earlier - not sure why that happened. I forgot to sign in to my brand new blogger a/c too, so had to use a url whatever that is. Think I've got information overloaditis.
It all seems very quiet today, has anyone seen the tiercel or any feeding by the falcon?
I have been watching most of the afternoon and all is so still. It does look like the falcon is sitting pretty steady now so I wonder if there will be a fourth egg or not.
Haven't seen the tiercel today or yesterday come to think of it. Is it usual for him to wander off on his own for long periods when the falcon is laying?
Will the expected cold weather delay or prevent the laying of a forth egg?
She has just moved to the nestbox ledge, and there are still just the three eggs. I haven't seen her feeding for a long time.
@KerrySuffolk
It's no cause for alarm that the tiercel isn't in view. As the falcon now seems firmly ensconced (is that the right spelling?) on the nest, with another egg due, I suspect the male will be on guard somewhere nearby, and be busy getting and preparing the food she'll need to keep her going. He'll probably only pop in to do a short stint of incubating every now and again whilst she pops off for quick a stretch and a meal, so to speak.
Thank you for the information. After seeing her move off the eggs I realised she would be laying another egg. I think it's because we have not seen her feeding for a while that we were concerned. Hopefully he is stocking up the larder.
Daddy's home
As Nick M says, these are experienced wild birds that know what they are doing.....they've done it successfully since 2006 here in Derby and, with luck, will do so again this summer.
Peregrines have been on the planet a long long time and have evolved to show behaviours which best adapt them to succeeding in all aspects of their lives.
We all do worry over them, but perhaps we shouldn't quite so much.....just relax and enjoy as they say.....
Nick B (DWT)
@NickB, ah yes I know your right. but you must excuse us women :) maybe it is the Mom in us who know what is is to have a young one and hope and pray it will flourish and grow, at least it is for me. :)
As the falcon is flying less, she will be using far less energy and may not require quite to so much food. Dad is around so I am sure she is OK.
Think you've probably hit the nail on the head PaxCanada......
Nick B
Joy - Five egg Peregrine clutches have been recorded in the wild but they're very rare. Three is normal; Four is good; Five is practically front page newsworthy.
Is it the male or female on the nest at the moment 9.45am. I have just watched them change over ??? What a show for free !!!!
I saw a changeover at 8.48am and thought it was the bigger female who took over but I was squinting rather as I did not have my specs on.
the female perigrine left the box at 6.25 this morning and the male came at 6.35 and sat the eggs till about 9.00 this morning when the female returned and they changed over,also saw 3rd perigrine this morning which the female chased off.
Ive just added a screen shot of a changeover this morning to the Flickr group. I has taken me ages to find the picture on my PC and then to find out how to add it to the group. I hope I've cracked it now.
In my enthusiasm I see I have added the uncropped photo to the group. Perhaps I haven't cracked it properly yet. I'll delete it if I can & start again.
has she started incubating now?
I think the parent on the eggs may have just rolled them. I am guessing that means they are developing instead of that a fourth egg is on the way, maybe...
How are the 'visits' to the site, as shown on the counter, calculated? I drop in about 3 times in the day, is each visit separately logged?
Thank you to the team, btw, this is a wonderful project.
Has anyone seen another egg yet? Just got in from work, stuck in a massive traffic jam next to Jury's Inn - not close enough to see anything to pass the time on! Weather atrocious in Derby this afternoon - torrential rain. Poor birds.....
Glad to know all is well and tiercel has been sighted.
Peregrine just arrived on tower with something in its beak. Falcon left the nest. Still 3 eggs.
both on the tower one feeding
one on eggs one on ledge
Both peregrines on nestbox - one on ledge rhs, the other (tiercel?)by the eggs.
One is sitting on the eggs now - I think it's the falcon. The other is still on the edge of the nestbox, rhs.
20.00 – 20.04
The falcon took quite a while to get the tiercal off the eggs – it looked like she lost patience at the end!
RJ
Anonymous asked how the hits to our site are calculated.
Well, some you see - others you don't.
1) Statcounter is counting visits to both webcam pages AND our blog combined. If you return within 2 hours you shouldn't get counted again unless you have cookies disabled. If you open a page after a 2 hour break, we'll count you again. Our visible count starts from 1 Jan each year, and today we just went over 100,000. A bit higher than last year, and a lot higher than the year before, or the year before that.
2) Clustr Maps counts visits to our blog (only) and puts them on a map for you to see. Its on the lower left side of our blog. Click it and you can zoom in to see where visitors come from (Croatia to Cook Island). Click the monthly archive and you'll see how many countries we've had visitors from.
3) Google Analytics counts just blog visitors too, and tells us more than Clustr Maps, but its not visible for you to see the results. Of course, every one counts slightly differently, so we just stick with recording the visible counts in method one.
4) Blogger counts how many posts and how many comments we have.
Each of these counts allow us to show that although we have (and welcome) viewers from around the world, by far the majority are from the UK. This is valuable when we need to demonstrate that we're putting resources in that benefit our local communities, as well as attracting and increasing city awareness from further afield. London is the city sending the highest number of blog readers, with Derby a close second, but it has a much smaller population. On average everyone spends around 1.5 minutes on the blog at a time, though curiously some UK cities spend far longer than the average. Whether they pay more attention, or are simply slower readers is open to debate.
If anyone wants to know more, or if there are teachers out there that would like to use our stats in practical numeracy exercises, I'm sure we can oblige. But I suspect I've already reached information overload point.
Thank you for that comprehensive stats explanation. I love information! I'm Derby-ish, BTW.
When are expecting the 4th egg (if it's going to happen?)
Loui
Anytime soon Loui...probably during the night sometime. It's now 48 hours since the third egg was laid - maybe another 9 hours to wait (I'm completely guessing here!)..should be there by breakfast....maybe!
Nick B (DWT)
4 eggs showing
Great to see the fourth egg. I wonder whether the falcon will break her record and provide another?
Yep, definitely four eggs!! How fantastic is that!
first shell discarded at 12:52
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