As I write this I am watching the second hatch in progress for the Buffalo Peregrines!  TWO HATCHLINGS IN ONE DAY!  WOO HOO!

Buffalo Audubon has a copyright on their web cam images, and unfortunately BAS will not give us permission to share cam captures from the cam on our website or forum but their live Web Cam can be viewed here (hopefully you will get to see our city’s newest residents!): http://www.buffaloaudubon.com/falconcam.htm

At approximately 12:15PM EST the first falcon eyas made its debut in the Peregrine Falcon nest located in Downtown Buffalo, NY.  Again this year the hatching was right on schedule!

Now to wait for the remaining eggs to also hatch.  Peregrine Falcons normally lay their eggs every other day and not all eggs hatch at the same time so it may be another 24 hours before the next chick makes its appearance.

Last year this nest fledged four young peregrines and the fifth egg remained unhatched.  Will there be five young this year?  Only time will tell!

The Buffalo Peregrine Falcon Web Cam can be viewed here:
http://www.buffaloaudubon.com/falconcam.htm

Our friend Lisa at Friends of Blackwater NWR has asked me to share news of her latest web log.  She has written an excellent piece on Raptors and Lead Poisoning - I encourage everyone here to read it and spread the word!

From Lisa - 

Raptors and Lead Poisoning

About a week ago, an event regarding a bald eagle came to my attention, and I’d like to talk about it here with the hope of producing some good out of an unfortunate situation.

One of our cam watchers was with his wife near Vienna, Maryland, which is not far from Blackwater Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He spotted an adult bald eagle in a tree, and at first he thought the eagle looked very old, since the eagle was listless but with no visible signs of injury. He wrote me when he got home and sent me the photo you see to the right. I forwarded the photo to a volunteer with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, which is a wonderful bird rehabilitation outfit on the Eastern Shore. Before anyone could go out and look for the bird, a representative from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources brought a female adult bald eagle to Tri-State, and it had come from this same general area, so we suspect it was the same bird.

Lisa has also included the following:

What You Can Do

If you have a friend or family member who hunts or fishes, then pass along the two brochures provided below to these people. Show them what the consequences of lead poisoning can be and show them that they can make a difference by avoiding lead-based materials. Included in the brochures are tips for finding non-lead products at local retailers.

Fishing and Lead Poisoning (1.3 MB PDF) http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/wordpress/
eagle08/pdfs/WWLfishing.pdf

Hunting and Lead Poisoning (2 MB PDF)
http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/wordpress/
eagle08/pdfs/WWLhunting.pdf

Read the rest on her Web Cam Log here:

Wild Animal Park California Condor Chick Fed by Puppet
Imperial Valley News - Holtville,CA,USA
Escondido, California - Keepers at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park fed a 2-day-old California condor chick, the first for the 2008 season, …

California condor chicks hatch VIDEO NOW RELEASED)
This is cute little video of animal we wouldn’t think is generally cute. More importantly it’s about the behind-the-scenes work being done to save a critically endangered species.

Special Thanks to Nora for this news yesterday (yes, I know I’m late on posting to the blog, but posted to the forum yesterday morning!)

Well Kimmarie, she laid 5 eggs! Saw them all Sunday at 9:03 AM.
Congrats!!!

Nora

I’m not counting on number six (although Mariah in Rochester, NY surprised everyone last year!).  Keep in mind that this female laid FIVE EGGS last year, but only four hatched.

I’ll sit down tonight and “do the math” and post my first hatch date prediction later this week!