This is a compilation of the morning activities with Diamond & Xavier!
The video opens with Diamond on the nest - she gets up & goes to the ledge, vocal & upset about birds in her territory and she flies off after them. A flock of Ibis had just flown overhead. IMMEDIATELY after Di flew, Xavier comes in and he runs to the eggs and gets on them quickly. He saw an opportunity for egg time and he took it!
Diamond did not stay away long - she returns in six minutes and X has to get up off the eggs - his egg time cut short. So what does he do? He goes to the ledge and he jumps off with his wings folded in a Goodbye Cruel World jump😂.
A little while later, Diamond see Xavier in flight - she gets up and flies off after him. He arrives back with prey which she claims and flies off with it. X is happy for more egg time!
When Di returns, X will have to get up once again go to the ledge in a GCW jump! How can you not laugh at him each time he does this! Footage includes box and ledge cams!
X returns to get more egg time and Di will get up and let him have his way. When she returns, he will jump off the ledge once again going straight down in a classic GCW!! HA! Thank you for watching!
Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk
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GENERAL INFORMATION:
This is a research project through Charles Sturt University, Orange, New South Wales Australia, studying the diet and use of a nest box of a family of peregrines living in water tower since 2007. We now have nine years' worth of diet and seven years of behaviour data The cams go right through the year and are in daily use.
HISTORY:
The birds have been observed using the tower (a working water tower) since 2007, breeding in the box since 2008, with an average of 2.8 eggs per clutch and 1.5 fledges per season.
The parents' names are Diamond (female) and Xavier (male). Diamond took over from the older Swift in 2015 and Xavier replaced Bula in 2016 (who in turn replaced our first male, Beau, in 2015). Xavier arrived just as the eggs were hatching and saved the season by providing for Diamond and her three chicks. Assuming that they were at least two years old when they arrived, Diamond is at least eleven years old and Xavier nine (in 2024).
The male is 15-20% smaller than the female, has fewer spots on the chest and has brighter yellow-orange talons and beak. The birds do not migrate and courtship rituals and some scrape (nest) building continues throughout the year, intensifying, along with food bringing by the male, in July and August.
Eggs are laid usually in late August, with chicks hatching in early October and fledging in mid-November. The youngsters often stay around as late as March being taught to hunt by their parents, and often visiting the nest in the tower, so there is much to watch even out of the main breeding season. One male juvenile stayed until August the following year when his parents blocked his entrance to the box and he took the hint.
#falconCam #OrangeCSUfalcons #OrangeAustraliaFalcons #PeregrineFalcons #CSUorangeperegrinefalcons
Courtesy of Falcon Project Orange NSW Australia. Many thanks to Cilla Kinross, principal researcher at CSU.
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Box Cam link: www.youtube.co...
Ledge Cam link: • Ledge Camera -FalconCa...
16 сен 2024
