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| Falcon with egg, two hours after it was laid, on 29th March. |
At last we have an egg!
It was laid at 14:12 local time, today - just twelve hours later than last year. The screenshot below was captured by Phoebe, one of our regular webcam-watchers, and posted to Flickr. It was the first image captured by any of our viewers (including the Project Team!)
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| Screen shot immediately after egg-laying. Captured by Phoebe. |
With this cool, windy weather, we may expect our female peregrine (known as the 'falcon') to remain with her egg to keep it warm. However, it is quite normal behaviour for the birds to leave the eggs for some considerable time until all but the last egg is laid. This has caused some viewers in the past to wonder whether the nest has been abandoned, but this is not the case. It results in all the eggs remaining cool and not developing much until the final egg is produced, so causing all the eggs and subsequent chicks to develop at the same speed and be at exactly the same stage at the same time.
We'll post more pictures later on if we have them.
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| Definitely no egg at 14:07 today, but then . . . |
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| . . .with her back firmly set to our new nest camera for over half an hour after laying the first egg of 2015, this was the first glimpse the Project Team managed to capture. |
http://floraofderbyshire.blogspot.co.uk/
44 comments:
Brilliant! Just spotted the first egg. Let the excitement begin :-)
Good On you mrs p! Its my birthday 2day! She laid 1st egg on my birthday last year aswell! From Christine.x
Its great news, I wonder if anyone else has an earlier picture than mine. Or maybe there's chance we night get a video. The 29th seems to be a popular day with this pair.
Happy birthday Christine, it's also my niece's birthday today.
Yes - great news. I think yours is definitely the first picture, Phoebe. I was automatically screen-capturing the images from the new, wide-angle camera. There was no egg at 14:07, but the nothing else was visible for half an hour. (I couldn't download your Flickr shot as you seem to have image downloads set to 'blocked'
Nick
Brilliant News, I wonder why she is not huddled ontop of the EGG
Well done Phoebe..
Hi Nick, I hope I have sorted the blocking problem of my photos. Seem to remember this happened last year too.
Well done Mrs P... How many are we going to have this year.... Mo Cole x
The story may be on BBC East Midlands Today TV news at 2220 hours tonight.....or failing that tomorrow.
Nick B (DWT)
And it is definitely in the local paper (Derby Telegraph) tomorrow.
Nick B
1745.. And the Cathedral bells are ringing to celebrate! So are we looking at Tuesday afternoon for the next one?
1745.. And the Cathedral bells are ringing to celebrate! So are we looking at Tuesday afternoon for the next one?
Hi Linda: the interval between eggs is likely to be somewhere around the 57-64 hours we think - but the proof of the pudding will be in the egging - as they say!
So somewhere between 11 pm Tuesday and 6 am Wednesday?
Nick B (DWT)
Just got in from walking dog and see the tiercel has already got a place on the egg.
I have just posted a new video captured from our camera, looking out from the back of the nest platform. Right at the start you can both hear the egg drop and see its shadow as it falls!
@Phoebe Thanks for changing the settings on Flickr - it's helpful to be able to download and save the webcam screenshots you have all made. We view these as 'creative commons' so people are free to use these - but not other photographs - in whatever way they choose.
Thanks for the video there certainly was a good thud sound as the egg dropped! Glad I've put the setting right on flickr.
This is great news! Many thanks to everyone for the stills and video.
Besides their size when they are together, what is the easiest way to tell the falcon from the tiercel? I have so happy to see the egg and next will be the babies.
Hi Abby-Lynn: it isn't that easy to be fair and of course the cameras make things closer to them look relatively larger - which causes difficulties.
The male (tiercel) has a slightly darker looking hood and maybe a smaller head than the female (the falcon) but often it really isn't at all easy to tell. Clearly now at egg laying the bird in the nest will mostly be the female and during incubation that will also be the case. The male will provision her with food. She'll come off the eggs to eat but she'll be back as soon as she can and will push the male off!
Nick B (DWT)
Thanks so much Nick.
Abby Lynn if you look at stream 1 now, it's the tiercel on the egg, see how small he looks compared to the falcon, who is on the grotesque at the top sleeping.
Thanks Phoebe, I was out, but just checked and I believe it is the tiercel still on the egg. I can see he is much slimmer. My stream 2 just now shows the scrape. It used to show 4 pictures. Maybe it will change.
Morning all
Is it normal for EGG to be unincubated for long intervals?
Behaviour I do not recall in previous years,but possibly my grey brain being stupid.
Kate
Kate: yes, as Nick M says in his blog post, the eggs are left cool/ cold until the third or sometimes the fourth egg is laid and then she begins incubation - so don't worry!
Nick B (DWT)
Kate: having said that, the male is now covering the egg....so he's keeping is (somewhat) warm. the weather in Derby is certainly cool today and going to be colder tomorrow with the possibility of wintry showers in the Peak District - so spring is temporarily on hold it seems....
Nick B (DWT)
Great to see THE EGG glowing in the sunshine just now. Your photos of several clutches which appear on an earlier post show that there can be quite a variation in the beautiful rusty mottling on different eggs. Interesting. One of the parents is just visible on the corbel below.
Thank you Nick B,(reply 11.6/10,) always so kind and helpful,amazing how you forget from year to year Doh!! ( well My Grey matter easily gets fuddled these days CHOL:):)
Hope we have a healthy successful Season.
Kind regards
Kate
What's happening at the cathedral there are ropes hanging down?
Hi Phoebe
Glad you saw ropes, I wondered why earlier she kept looking up and again now a lot of tinkly tinny noises.
Kate
Hi Kate
We have very windy rainy weather in derby today so it could be something to do with that.
Just to advise people - there has been no human activity on the Tower today at all. It's either a day early for an April Fool's trick, or possibly a camera cable has come loose in this wind. However, our camera recordings show nothing untowards this morning, and there are no workmen or Project members mad enough to lower ropes down in this appalling weather, or whilst a Scheduled bird is on its nest.
Please save a screenshot if you do see signs of loose cabling - not that we can do much about it until the end of May!
Update: As I write this Nick Brown and Ian Layton happen to be at the Cathedral and have rung in to say they think possibly that the flagpole rope has broken free and could be dangling down, and are investigating.
Update:
So it wasn't an early April's Fool trick after all - there was indeed a rope hanging down! But it came from the Cathedral flagpole, having come loose at the top. Nick and Ian carefully hauled it in without disturbing the nest site and have fastened it down.
Any volunteers for shinning up the flagpole and refixing it?
Thanks for the info Nick. I thought it could be the wind that had blown some ropes off. They appear to b attached at the top so hopefully it it the flagpole ropes.
No problem. Because you weren't initially signed in, I'd wondered if it was someone making mischief.
Who...me..... ? I was on my tablet and not signed in on it as now. I can't seem to sign in on it . the ropes have gone now.
I managed to sign in on my tablet so no more confusion. No more confusion.
Thanks Nick'ssssss
Thank goodness twas only flagpole ropes, Ha!! and thank goodness it was our own Phoebe who is always alert and not a prankster.
The winds are a nightmare up and down the Country, Poor birds have to be careful they don't get bashed wings, I feel for those trying to cross the channel.
Thank goodness our Derby Birds are at least used to seeing humans at times around their scrape, so never get too disturbed, am sure they retain info and will recognize you Nick M.CHOL:):)
Thank you again for all you do.
Kate
Interestingly there is a pigeon on the grotesque up top along with the falcon on the water spout. The falcon has just glared at the pigeon as ti flew away, eyes following its every move.
Meanwhile the tiercel is on the egg looking as gorgeous as ever.
looks like the second egg has just been laid 19:32
Well spotted bassian22. Annoyingly, I hadn't got my automatic screen capture software running yet, but have posted a quick screen grab of the second egg. Anyone got anything better we can show?
(I'll nip off now and log into the wide angle camera and see if I can find any recordings there)
Sorry I was busy sewing and didn't see it.
I have checked a few times today and again see them looking up quite often. Ropes loose again or are they just keeping an eye out for other birds flying too close?
Abby Lynn there is a new blog post now for the second egg. If you look at the main blog page you will see the newest one and the latest posts. :)
Thanks Phoebe.
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