Bird Cams Around the World

Oh, no! Has this happened in prior years, or is this a new nestbox?

This is a new nest-box but I imagine that there'll be changes made over the winter. One of the problems is that there are more than 300 steps to climb every time that anything has to be done. If you climb up to check that the bird has really gone and is not just on the other side of the building, you then have to climb up again when you've found the bird on the ground!

Anyway, this time it was Rebecca, the largest chick on the ground. She's in good health and, from a comment made by Passera on our forum, is a spirited lady - like all true falcon ladies .

A huge thanks to all those who were monitoring the nest and warned Passera that a chick was missing, Passera, the guardian of the tower, Luigi (who has Alphonse from last year), and anyone else involved.

Oh my word, prey was delivered and one baby got it and this is a picture of it trying to get back in the box and drag the prey in. I don't think it pulled it off because now they are both sitting there on the edge looking in that direction.

Flapping. They can both get in and out of that box pretty good, just not with prey.

I don't know if they dropped the prey out of reach or not, neither is eating.

Well they are too cute.

They've started to go walkabout . They're reasonably safe - Carlo has explained on the Italian forum that there's a large area (the top of the dome of the church) where the nest is and then, if they wanted to go down, there are balconies and sort of handrails going down in steps so they can't fall directly. If you don't see one or both, don't worry as they'll be off exploring and they'll be back sooner or later, particularly when they get hungry .

Appio and Vergine's nest is giving us a few problems at present. The cam's got hiccups and so we only get a new picture every now and then . This nest is not for those with weak nerves at the moment. As you know, two chicks fell off the ledge at the beginning of the last week and one died . Giac has given more info - the live chick was found sitting on the corpse of its sister. There was a newly dead starling nearby but it hadn't been eaten. Giac thinks that the parents had probably located the chick and had left prey for it. Very little was left of the dead chick and so it's thought that she could have been attacked by a ground predator . If she died in the fall, then something had started to eat her body. Giac also thinks that they were probably blown off the ledge (the weather in Italy is bad at present). He said that changes will be made to the nest location off season to make it more suitable and safer .

Oh my, poor little thing.

PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR POSTS IN THE 2011 TOPIC! HAPPY NEW YEAR!