Not long now

In the lead up to the hatching, we had an interesting visit from another peregrine this morning.  Interesting to watch both Xavier and Diamond’s reaction:

Strange peregrine flypast

VIDEOS 20170926 PF flypast ledge

20170926 PF flypast X reaction

There has been very little prey brought in – just a starling top half two days ago.  I still haven’t found the stash, but I’ve asked some workers to keep an eye out for me as they are working in the gardens where the birds often roost.  I think it might be in the very far trees, however as I’ve seen Diamond sail right over the close trees.

Xavier has been keeping up his incubation duties – sometimes several hours at a time – quite different from Bula or Beau.  Here he is perhaps startled by something and makes a rather clumsy exit.   Did he hear a peep?.   Sorry, video not behaving itself.

Incidentally, I’ll have to ask Scott about sound.  I have it on the Milestone recording software, which I can watch live, so I don’t know why it’s not coming through on the live streaming.

Xavier jumps off the eggs with alacrity!

32 thoughts

  1. It would be fantastic to have sound – for one thing it alerts us to “things happening”, but just imagine hearing those baby tweets 😉

  2. We had a parent leave (think it was Xavier but really not sure) but was replaced a few minutes later by Diamond who’d obviously just had some kind of food as a feather was still stuck to her beak. She then set about for a few minutes of crazy egg rolling. (Still going on) I think something’s about to happen!!

    Hopefully these work .. I got some kind of error message with some. They expire in 2 weeks.

    https://screenshots.firefox.com/P4LGodmUEejhSuti/www.csu.edu.au

    https://screenshots.firefox.com/l1cIDHGkblpsFvBd/www.csu.edu.au

  3. Deborah, in case you’re watching – I’ve posted a video and snaps of Xav dropping prey to the scrape, but the comments are ‘awaiting moderation’, so obvious I haven’t been white-listed.

    scylla 🙂

  4. 11:07am .. and still no signs of the chicks!

    https://screenshots.firefox.com/cqHU4eRJklgqYVkq/www.csu.edu.au

    Diamond and Xavier did a quick switch and Xavier did nothing else except complain until about 11.12am when Diamond returned (I only half saw this as Australia Post decided to deliver a parcel at the crucial moment haa)

    I did see Diamond as she left fly into the tall trees at the back of the grove where Xavier seemed to have appeared from and then I’m sure it was her leaving the vision of field top left into the windbreak trees.

  5. Just before 4 pm Orange time and no signs yet. As I speak Xavier has arrived with a decent-sized afternoon tea. Diamond seemed reluctant to leave X in charge, but finally took off. I’ll be here for another 3 hours yet, so will keep an eye on things until the northern hemisphere night shift takes over. Possible showers tonight.

  6. Diamond is taking an inordinate time to settle on eggs. Very restless. My hunch is that number one might be tonight.

    Incidentally, it’s so dry in Orange, that there is a queue five deep for my birdbath outside my window. This does not bode well for availability of prey this season.

  7. No, they rarely hunt close to the nest – my guess is that they consider the woodland their reserved source larder and anyway, they prefer to hunt in more open areas, not in the cluttered garden outside my office. They are quite safe.

    I can see a small hole in the egg furthest from the camera, but it’s getting dark (and clouding up, making it darker quicker), so may not catch it before I leave (which is when I get hungry!).

  8. Oh .. I only just saw my comments are awaiting moderation.

    I don’t know if this will work if you copy and paste this into the url field.

    screenshots.firefox.com/KBG4LqXtdbAwQGns/www.csu.edu.au

  9. Yes I can see the small hole too .. which is part of my “waiting for moderation” post. I was hoping I wasn’t being too hopeful. haa

  10. She’s shoving them about as if they are lumps of coal at the moment! Unfortunately I have a meeting in town at 7.30, so can’t be witness much longer (and I’m not going to get fed, alas). I might put up a new thread before I go however, as this is getting a bit long.

  11. Even Diamond’s over the waiting.. I think she’s trying to smash the eggs opened lol

    screenshots.firefoxusercontent.com/images/7a36cecd-307b-4605-8b81-308f5270b6ba.png

  12. Good idea about the thread. And I’m waiting for my dinner to cook then I’m off for a while too. Tomorrow morning is my last chance before I head off on an interstate journey and I have limited data. Took my opportunities as I could!

  13. I was watching and took snaps to show 3 whole eggs – but my morning links are still awaiting moderation so I expect this is a waste of time :'(

    Since then, lots more fidgeting and egg-exposure but no pip seen.

  14. I haven’t seen any pip yet – however, I didn’t see The Hole, despite lots of close-up snaps!

    The last stand-up only revealed one (seemingly pristine) egg.

  15. Good shot of the eggs as parents swap duties .. no signs of pips

    screenshots.firefoxusercontent.com/images/a8f3c5f0-96bf-4039-9984-a9021f9c265a.png

  16. Here’s the movie covering your snap, Deborah 🙂

    It’s taken a-g-e-s to produce, there must have been a corruption in one of the clips. Ins/outs may be missing in the sequence due to freezes.

    “Activities to 07:55hr, daycam eggs hardly seen”

    3m12s VIDEO = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpxdKXdfIMI

    Xavier’s arrival @ 05:46hr:

    https://i.imgur.com/kCjLGLW.png

    Technicolor eggs @ 07:54hr, a partial view:

    https://i.imgur.com/v1ZKbB8.png

    Cause for great alarm when this viewer looked up and was presented with this prone, dead still sight 😉 A browser refresh brought relief 😀

    https://i.imgur.com/aHlw0qE.png

  17. I only have a few more hours til I’m off .. so looks like no babies for me…

    But I think I’m not the only one thinking hurry up …

    screenshots.firefox.com/RWd6PEAmesICjQLM/www.csu.edu.au

    (picture link expires in 14 days)

  18. Sound would be great. I had it in 2015, but not last year or this so far.
    Sorry about the bold type if that’s how it appears – I’m not really shouting at you!
    Getting excited to see the little white fluffballs again.

  19. I didn’t realise that my earlier posts hadn’t been moderated, ah well :-/

    Here’s the first changeover, which I just realised I had missed.

    (C&P into browser address bar.)

    i.imgur.com/9oZgwRd.jpg

  20. Xav brought a late breakfast for Diamond @ 09:30hr (not caught on nestcam)… Diamond was gone for 2 hours.

    1m08s VIDEO = youtube.com/watch?v=PnCx586U8v8

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Diamond was gone so long because she had to catch a supplement 😉

    i.imgur.com/Rh6o8z3.png

    (C&P links into browser address bar.)

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