KestrelCam

A new season underway

Ranger Steve — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:28:00 GMT

It was quite a surprise a few weeks ago when avid KestrelCam watcher Pat emailed us "There's something in the box!". At first glance, it appeared to all of us to be (and here I quote my good friend Bonnie), "that is one BIG m*** f *** kestrel!". Our first quick identification was based on the barred and rust-colored back, which closely resemble a kestrel's. (Brings up an interesting question...why are both kestrels and flickers barred on top? Is the flicker imitating the kestrel for protection from predators while on the ground? Or is one or the other a form of camouflage or cryptic coloration?).

Anyway, we very quickly identified it as a Northern Flicker, a very pretty species of woodpecker that normally digs in the ground for bugs, eats ants, etc., but also is a cavity nesting species. In the last few days, we believe we've confirmed that it is a female, due to the lack of malar stripes, the "moustache" marks along the side of the face (red or black).

It looks like she's just using this as a roost cavity, and our contacts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology seem to feel that way, also, but perhaps she'll stay for the breeding season (which starts many months from now). At the very least, she's pretty to watch, and indicates that birds in the area know about and are comfortable using the nestbox in its new location closer to the house. If she leaves, we may get another species we've seen lately on several occasions...Western Bluebirds.

All eggs hatched

Ranger Steve — Tue, 16 May 2006 05:23:00 GMT

5 little nestlings, mouths agape, have been clamoring for food from mom and dad since Saturday. Hatching was very quick, within a day or so for all 5 eggs. The young ones should grow rapidly, and the next thing we'll try to watch for is them opening their eyes, sometime around the end of this week. Feathers will start to come in quickly, as well.

Be sure to post any interesting pictures over in the Photos portion of the Forum...you can grab a pic from the main webpage by right-clicking and doing a "Save As".

Ranger Steve

First little hatchling!

Ranger Steve — Sat, 13 May 2006 06:14:00 GMT

Well, the first of the eggs hatched today...a tiny little pink hatchling was seen in the nestbox around 3 p.m. The female starling was observed in the box shortly thereafter, possibly feeding it (or perhaps removing the broken eggshell). That was a quick incubation period :) It won't be long before the rest hatch, and then within a few weeks the little ones will fledge.

Like most of you, I'm not overjoyed that they're starlings and not kestrels or bluebirds or flickers or something, but you know what? I'm not totally dismayed, either. They are living things, and part of the natural world (or, if you believe in God, they're one of God's creatures, too). So let's just sit back and watch them grow up.

By the way, anyone should be able to post to either the forums or these blog things...so feel free to add your comments to either. It's awfully quiet around here lately!

Starlings and hatching and such

Ranger Steve — Wed, 10 May 2006 20:32:00 GMT

Well, despite our attempts to remove the Starlings, they've nested and laid 5 eggs, so we decided to let it go this year and let them incubate and hatch them. I know, I know...I'm catching grief from all sorts of people who think we should spend all of our spare time cleaning out starling nests (and just as much email/comments from people who like starlings and want to see them hatch). I'm trying to be nice and diplomatic and respond to them, but the bottom line is...it's my nestbox, and quite frankly, even though I'd rather not have starlings there, we just didn't design it to be cleaned out every other day (mostly because we didn't HAVE this problem last year). So unless the anti-starling crowd is willing to come over to my house every day, climb up the hill, take the box down (don't forget to bring a friend...it takes two people...the box/pole is *heavy* and awkward), clean it out, set it back up, all while not messing up the cameras/cables/etc., this nest will stay. No, it's not the best answer, but all in all, 5 more starlings isn't going to make or break the situation. They've been here since the 1890's, my guess is they're here to stay. And we're not in a particularly fragile ecosystem where I live (and if we were, the bulldozers and graders and new home construction is doing far more damage AND creating starling-friendly environments than anything I could do).

We'll do a better job next year, either with a better system for raising/lowering the kestrel nestbox (donations of purple martin house pole with winch gratefully accepted), and/or a red-tail hawk platform.

Also, we'll be installing a bathouse with camera soon...watch for those images to appear on the website!

Rats!

Ranger Steve — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 05:34:00 GMT

Well, at least I think it was a rat that chewed through not one, not two, but all three of our cables. So, yet again, we had to solder the wires back together, and then add yet some more rodent-proofing (another pole to elevate the cables...we thought they were okay, but they were draped over a bush, and apparently that was not sufficient to keep whatever chewed through them away).

This seals it, though...if we're successful this year (knock on wood), we're running our cables in conduit next year (along with 110 VAC power)...and we'll invest in some seriously high-quality cables, too. Maybe we should form a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) and solicit for funding!

But at this point, we're back up and running. And don't forget to check out the Birdhouse Network's Nestbox Cameras, courtesy of the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology...

Patience is a virtue...

Ranger Steve — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:31:00 GMT

And we're going to need plenty of it. I'm starting to get a lot of "where are the kestrels?" questions. Just to remind everyone that it's still likely much too early for them to show up. Somewhere around here I have a graphic from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that shows average breeding/nesting/migration time periods, and I'll try to find it to post. But the bottom line is, at this latitude, breeding and nesting occurs from around late February/early March onwards. Thus, we don't expect to see any birds for another month or so (but nature doesn't always play by textbook rules, so you never know). The two primary reasons for putting up the nestbox early were a) to work out all the technical glitches, such as camera malfunctions, red-tails usurping the perch, etc, and b) to give any kestrels time to acclimate to the nestbox being in their territory and available.

So now, we'll just keep waiting and watching...and hopefully, with a little luck, someday in the not too distant future, the images will "update every 30 seconds" to show us some little falcons exploring the inside of the box!

Waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

Ranger Steve — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:36:00 GMT

We'll be doing a lot of waiting for the next couple of months, I'm afraid. Still, it's heartening to see that we've had so many hits in the first few days. Seems like a lot of people will be watching with us, and keeping their fingers crossed alongside us! Everything is working well, no hiccups in the system at all.

By the way, now is the time to ask for any additional features or capabilities of the system. We can't do sound (yet), but some people have asked for a single-screen quad view of all the cameras. I can do that; I'd have to buy another piece of equipment, but if enough people want it, I can provide it. I'd need to get (or have donated) what's called a "quad processor"...they're usually used for security surveillance systems, to put multiple camera views on a single screen. And we'd need one that can do color, so it would be a little more expensive. Thus, I won't do it unless I get enough requests for that capability. Just let me know!

Happy Holidays to everyone, in case I don't get around to posting on this blog before then...

Ranger Steve

Syndication/OPML/RSS

Ranger Steve — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 04:33:00 GMT

Anybody out there know what these things at the right of the main Blog page, "Syndication" and "Opml" are? I gather it's for some sort of "news" feed or push or something, but it's new to me. It came as part of the free Forum package from the hosting service, so if it works great, and if not, oh well...but I'd like to learn a little more about it and see if it's useful or just another time-consuming Web "feature".

We're up! Live on 12/17/2005

Ranger Steve — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 06:08:00 GMT

We're up live, with the all-new KestrelCam. Of course, my external camera *immediately* started messing up, so I'll have to fix that tomorrow. The internal ones are working fine, though (although I may have to swap power supplies to get enough juice to the color one to make sure it's bright enough).

One of the advantages of living at KestrelCam Control is having audio this year...it's surprising how much noise there is out there at night...dogs barking, cars on the street, etc. Considering that these birds are nesting in cavities wherein it is nearly pitch black, all of these noises must induce some pretty significant level of stress.

Almost there...

Ranger Steve — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 05:51:00 GMT

Just a few more things to take care of, and we should be back on-line within a week...

Welcome to the new website!

Ranger Steve — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:49:00 GMT

This year, we've added discussion forums, weblogs and image galleries. We've also procured some new cameras, so you can expect several views of the nestbox. Let us know what you think...and please let us know what you'd like us to add or change!

Ranger Steve