2012 Nestbox News
Highlights from the 2012 nesting season at 101 Hudson St. in Jersey City, New Jersey as viewed from the Peregrine falcon webcam. In collaboration with the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program
June 26, 2012
We received word from biologists with the NJ Endangered & Nongame Species Program
(ENSP) that at least 1 chick has not survived. Building engineers discovered a young
peregrine that had hit the building late last week. They confirmed it was one of the newly
fledged peregrines from the leg bands. And since only 1 chick has been spotted over the
last couple of days, it is most likely that another chick has had an accident and did not
survive. Death or injury is an unfortunate reality for these young birds especially in an
urban setting. We are hopeful that the remaining chick with survive and will return one
day to raise her own family nearby.
June 19, 2012
Well, the chicks have flown the coop! You can catch glimpses of the juveniles and the
adults from time to time but for the most part, webcam viewing is winding down.
Volunteer nest watchers have witnessed quite a bit of activity around 101 Hudson Street
with the adults catching prey and delivering it to the chicks wherever they may be. They
also have seen the young practicing their flight skills.
June 13, 2012
First Flight? Volunteer nest watchers may have witnessed the first flight of one of the
juvenile falcons on Sunday, June 10th. They described the flight as awkward/non-adult.
The adult male came in and flew just below the juvenile falcon, and the size difference
indicated the "flappy" falcon was female! The flight was brief, and both birds flew back
over 101 Hudson. It may have been unintentional but the female, nonetheless, is flying.
Have you witnessed the fledging of the chicks?
June 5, 2012
The chicks are more than 1 month old now and they are moving! Their brown flight
feathers and body feathers are becoming more prominent. They are also a lot more
curious about the world around them. They are moving in and out of the box a lot and are
beginning to exercise their wing muscles, gearing up for their first flight. The adults still
watch closely and offer regular visits. The Star Ledger's videographer Andre Malok attended banding day and did a short video.
May 30, 2012
Zoologist Kathy Clark of the Endangered & Nongame Species Program, along with
others from the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife and the CWF converged on 101 Hudson
to band the three nestlings on May 24th. At 21 days, they were a good age and size for
banding, their legs full grown but still young enough to be handled easily. The challenge,
as always, was the short trek to the nest box to bring them inside. While the tiercel, or
male peregrine, remained perched just feet from us on the parapet wall, the female flew
continuously. Fortunately she was put off by the umbrella over our heads and no people
or falcons were harmed in the process.
The nestlings had a great check-up. Of the three, one is female and two are males. They
were banded with bicolor black-over-green bands on the left leg, with the codes 29/AN
on the female, and 17/AM and 18/AM on the males. (See Volunteer Mike
Girone's photos on Flickr.)
After banding, we opened the door with the box of chicks in hand to return to the nest,
only to find a rainy downpour complete with thunder and lightning. We waited a few
minutes and were able to quickly return the nestlings back to their home in just a light
rain.
As planned, we changed the camera feeds so that the streaming video is from the outside
camera that is mounted on the building's wall, approximately 15 feet from the nest box.
The view from the small camera mounted inside the nest box is available here. It
refreshes every 3 minutes. With the outside camera now streaming (thanks to E J
Grassmann Trust), we have control over the view and will be able to zoom and pan
around to see the action as it develops in the next few weeks.
May 22, 2012
The chicks are getting big! They are increasingly more active in the nestbox and seem to
lunge at the adults when they bring food back to the box.
Their flight feathers are starting to emerge from the feather sheaths, but this is hard to see
with the video feed. In the next week, their feathers will start to show in their faces and
move slowly across their bodires.
Biologists will be visiting the nestbox on Thursday to band the chicks and give them a
check-up. Tune in around 10 am and you may catch a glimpse of them. We will give you
an update once the banding is complete. May 17, 2012
Things are looking good for the Jersey City peregrine chicks. Mild temperatures and
growing chicks equal parents spending more time outside the nestbox. The chicks remain
huddled together most of the time but that will change quickly too. The adults are never
far away though - they can be seen perching outside the box from the still images
found here.
May 9, 2012
At about 9:30 this morning, biologists from the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife visited the
nestbox. They took the chicks and administered medicine to prevent a disease,
trichomoniasis (a pigeon-borne disease), and collected the 2 eggs that did not hatch. The
eggs will be analyzed to try and discover the reasons that they did not hatch. (Special
thanks to Atlantic County teacher and faithful PeregrineCam watcher Barbara Rheault
and her 5th graders for alerting CWF of the commotion at the nestbox! We will answer
your questions in another post shortly!)
Faithful watchers will notice that the videopicture has changed and is greatly improved.
Thank you to the EJ Grassmann Trust for your generous donation to purchase a new
videocamera! We appreciate your support!
May 7, 2012
Faithful peregrinecam monitor Mike Girone reports that on Saturday morning he
glimpsed a third chick. We'll watch closely today to see if either of the remaining two
eggs hatch, though at this point the likelihood of that is diminishing. Faithful
peregrinecam watchers will be rewarded during feeding sessions, catching glimpses of
the chicks. At all other times, the adults will cover the chicks to keep them warm.
May 3, 2012 We've got confirmation that one chick hatched early this morning and another hatched
sometime before noon. With 5 eggs, incubation is more difficult. And of course there will
be more mouths to feed should all 5 eggs hatch. It will be very interesting to see how this
season continues.
Have you seen the adults feed the young yet? Join the conversation on our Facebook
page.
April 18, 2012
We have been watching the peregrinecam patiently and frequently in the hopes of
catching a quick glimpse of the eggs as the adults switch up the incubation duties. Today,
at about 3pm, we were rewarded with a glimpse of the 5 eggs and we watched one of the
adults walk carefully around the eggs. We noticed one of the adults turning the eggs, so
that they develop evenly. Within a minute or 2 though, the adults were quietly sitting on
the eggs again.
April 2, 2012
Incubation of 5 eggs! On March 30th, NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife staff paid a visit to
101 Hudson Street. Upon visiting the roof they witnessed 5 eggs! While 3 to 4 eggs is
typical, five eggs has been documented at other nesting sites. It is thought that older birds
are more prone to laying five, and so, this may indicate the female is nearing the end of
her productive years. Whether all five hatch with healthy chicks, and how many
successfully fledge, will be very interesting for all of us to observe. Incubation is
typically about a month in duration, so we can expect hatching to begin around April 30.
Stay tuned!
March 28, 2012
A fourth egg was spotted yesterday afternoon! This will most likely complete the clutch
of eggs and incubation has begun. Incubation lasts 32-33 days and so hatching should
occur sometime around April 28th.
March 27, 2012
The Live video feed begins! The female has laid 3 eggs (with the 3rd egg laid on Sunday,
the 25th) and it looks like she has started to incubate. Will a 4th egg be laid? Stay tuned
to find out! March 21, 2012
The peregrine falcon nesting season has begun! When biologists and technical staff
visited 101 Hudson street yesterday, they were surprised to find that an egg had already
been laid. This is the earliest that we have documented this event but with the mild,
snow-free winter we had, it is not surprising. The peregrines nesting in Atlantic City have
been incubating eggs for more than a week now.
Peregrine females generally lay an egg every other day so expect another egg anytime
now. They don't start incubating eggs until the last egg is laid so all eggs develop together
and hatch together (this is called synchronous hatching). We can compare this to bald
eagles who start incubating immediately upon laying the first egg and thus the eggs hatch
asynchronously, a couple of days apart.
Find Related Info: Peregrine Falcon