The first three eggs have appeared and we’re still trying to work out if they’re of nominal size or a little smaller than previously, but the illusion of the much larger roost has made calculations difficult! Nevertheless both parents are now happier to spend time incubating. With the last-minute rush to mount the new roost we weren’t able to install a measuring stick in view of the cameras to help with size estimates.
Lots more going on, with plenty of visits by dad with food (ref gallery #5) and some really impressive new camera angles which were adjusted last weekend on another quiet climb. The newly replaced tower northern window (now a steel hatch) has meant total darkness through the viewing windows; hence better image contrast. With much larger viewing windows and a far deeper space we have plenty of new camera angles to play with. Most noticeably the ledge camera has been taken further back but also tilted much further down. This avoids plenty of bright back-light during sunny days and shows more of the floor and more real colour. The nest camera is equally further back (with some luck now positioned away from the “poo-line”), and further minor problematic adjustments should give us nearly all the floor. Vision of mum settling into her three new eggs can be viewed here …
After a funding body at CSU let us down in not being able to cover the remaining AU$ required to purchase new cameras, really clever recording and monitoring software and an infrastructure to plug it all in together, we’re going to step up our replacement technology in smaller stages, beginning with the recording software with current funding help from our good friends at 30 Bomber Squadron (see page above). The Orange campus Student’s Association and other student groups are going to run some fund-raising for us shortly, and we have another couple of ideas, so we’re well on our way again.
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