General Discussion : 2015 Bosch KestrelCams discussion

Good morning everyone!  This topic has been created for you to discuss events you see on the Bosch KestrelCams. Please ask questions, post observations and share knowledge about what our kestrels do during this 2015 nesting season.

If you prefer to see postings displayed with the most recent at the top, go to http://hub.peregrinefund.org/akp-2015-cams-discussion

Comments:

Delorahilleary's picture

A viewer caught this interesting interaction today, and they gave me their permission to post it here.

"A starling tried entering the nest box at about 2:16 pm today (Appril 29th) while the female was incubating. She left her eggs and went after the starling. The kestrel was somehow aware of the starling's presence immediately prior to the attempted home invasion and made several chattering cries before the starling attempted to enter." -Mark Moore

It's interesting to see that starlings are still scouting nest cavities!

Delorahilleary's picture

I got this screenshot this evening.  The kestrel male was grooming himself in the setting sun. It seems incubation is still going quite well!

Delorahilleary's picture

I've been enjoying seeing other partners post 6-egg clutches, and it'll will be interesting to see how successful those pairs are in fledging all of those young. The record for number of eggs in a single clutch by American Kestrels is 7 eggs! It would seem like a brood that size would hardly fit in a box!

Click for some nesting documentation on kestrels across the Western Hemisphere.

dee brake's picture

how can u tell diff between male and female?

Delorahilleary's picture

Hi Dee Brake!
Kestrels are sexually dimorphic in plumage, which means the male and female look different. The female has an overall brownish/reddish/rufous color, with many small black bars all over her feathers. She has a small crown of slate blue on her head. In general, she looks more camouflaged.

The male has more striking and colorful plumage. He has slate-blue wings, a blue crown, and a reddish tail with one large black stripe on the end.
This collection of images here (by WileEC in Nampa, ID) has some good comparison photos of both sexes.

Feel free to ask anything else here! smiley

Delorahilleary's picture

I was asked by a friend watching the webcams a couple days ago - "why do the kestrels bob their heads when sitting?" My friend noticed this behavior while watching the kestrel parents on the outside camera. Kestrels frequently bob their heads while perching and looking about.

Kestrels, and many birds of prey, bob their head when they see something that interests them - whether it be a small bird, or some other moving object. The head bob lets them see the object of interest from a slightly different angle, which allows the kestrel to better gauge the distance of that object. Basically, it increases the bird's depth perception. This behavior is common across many species of birds.

Kestrels are also known for bobbing their tails while perching - this behavioral tick that all kestrels share can actually be very helpful in identifying whether a perching bird is a kestrel or not! Scientists believe a kestrel's tail bob is a balancing aid, and it's fairly unique behavior for birds in the kestrel's size group.

Delorahilleary's picture

This kestrel pair is nearing the end of the incubation period. We're going to be keeping a very close eye on this came in the coming week, as hatching is anticipated to start between May 10th to May 15th!

Who will spot the incoming chicks first? laugh
 

nc's picture

Hello.

Either it's my imagination (could very well be since I am now half awake) or I've been occasionally hearing chirps coming out of one of the eggs.

 

Delorahilleary's picture

Hi nc - it may not be your imagination! Hatching could begin at any time now, and vocalizations can potentially be heard from inside the egg prior. I am definitely keeping my eyes and ears peeled!

Also, we are aware that the outside cam stream is currently down. We are experiencing some hardware failures on the computer that streams it, and our computer dev is working to get it working again as soon as possible!

madeline's picture

she sure is wriggling this morn as if something is tickling her!

Delorahilleary's picture

I saw five eggs intact when she got up earlier, around 9:30am - but who knows what will be seen each time she gets up again laugh

madeline's picture

anyone seen where the male goes when not in box?    I think he must be nearby

cause he comes quickly whenever the female starts calling.

Delorahilleary's picture

The male is usually off hunting when he is not in the box - in the grassy fields surrounding Peregrine Fund campus. He often vocalizes on his way back - too far for the microphone on the inside of the box to hear, but the female certainly notices and begins calling to him.

Minot's picture

Still 5 eggs.

Delorahilleary's picture

Great to know - keep those updates coming!

madeline's picture

male entered to sub for female who left, appears to be large pip on one egg,

and beginning of pip on another

Delorahilleary's picture

Great!!

Jill from MN's picture

Our kestrel friends switched places at about 8:45 pm and the inside camera stopped.  I think the cameras may be about an hour out of sync, which may be causing a serious lag.  I would have loved to have seen the eggs....

I do hear a lot of chirping noises on the audio portion, as someone else here has mentioned

 

 

Jill from MN's picture

Our kestrel friends switched places at about 8:45 pm and the inside camera stopped.  I think the cameras may be about an hour out of sync, which may be causing a serious lag.  I would have loved to have seen the eggs....

I do hear a lot of chirping noises on the audio portion, as someone else here has mentioned

 

 

madeline's picture

about how long apart have the breaks been between times the male relieves his female, and

then how long on average does male stay on the eggs?

Delorahilleary's picture

Hi Jill, if you notice the syncing being a bit off, refreshing your browser usually fixes it! On a computer, a hard refresh is ctrl+F5. That reloads everything smiley

nc's picture

It's 12:31 AM PDT, May 12th. It's definitely not my imagination. I can hear chirping from two of the eggs now; although, one of the chirps is much louder than the other. Could one of the eggs have hatched? I wish mom kestrel would get up so I can see. Anyway, every time the louder chick chirps, mom kestrel turns the eggs. At one point, she chirped back. I don't think she is going to get much sleep tonight, lol.

peep! 

Jill from MN's picture

.Congratulations to Mary S who saw the first little birdie hatch!!!!  Saw an eggshell at about 6.45 AM when the sun shone in.   Kestrel cam still drags a bit but I hope to see Baby today before too long.

 

 

Delorahilleary's picture

Nice spot, Mary S! Now we have three nestlings as of 9am! Only two eggs left to go!

Jill from MN's picture

Hello, folks - and thank you so much, Delora!  :)

My lunch break continues to be a joyous occasion today.   Mama Kestrel very active around 11:05 AM Boise time, could be trying to help a baby into the world.  (Hatching rather quickly?)   Have seen little glimpses of white fluffiness times at least two.

Jill from MN's picture

PS:  do hatchlings absorb yolk sacs over the first few days or do they get their first meal within a day of hatching?

Delorahilleary's picture

Kestrels do get their first meals within a day of hatching! The nestlings have been fed twice this morning already since I started watching at 9am.
For falcons, the egg yolk was absorbed into the body just before hatching, and it does continue to nourish the new nestlings after hatching happens. But, the nestling's begging instinct kicks in right away and the parents begin feeding them tiny bits of meat as well! Thus, the nestlings have a very nutritious kickstart to their life outside of the shell.

madeline's picture

shoving match between ma and pop, as to who gets to brood....ma wins and pa exits box

Jill from MN's picture

GOLDEN KESTREL MOMENT today at 11:21-11:23 Boise Kestrel Time!   The male perched at the cavity, called to the female, and the female called back.  He then entered the box and started to change places with the female, but soon encountered their hatchlings.  I saw a few tiny heads for the first time.  I would have cried for joy if I had been at home by myself.   I hope you folks at the AKP can rewind and see.  Did anyone else see the male at the nest box earlier than this?

Delorahilleary's picture

Yup, the male has been popping in with food all morning, or occasionally just to visit and peek in. He is supplying a steady flow of rodents!

Delorahilleary's picture

I just spotted the fourth chick, newly hatched!

madeline's picture

we have chick number 4!!!!

madeline's picture

lol, did u hear the 'pop' when female pulls the offered rodent from male' beak?  she then began feeding the 3 chicks, and newly hatched wobbles about, not dry yet

nc's picture

There are four chicks now! laugh The fourth must have just hatched because it is still damp.

 

madeline's picture

male returned and helps ma feed the chicks, then leaves after a few minutes.  oops, ma loses her balance and spreads wings as she falls forward.   She rebalances and continues to feed chicks

madeline's picture

at 11:32

mom exits box probably to help male find more food.   the 4 chicks huddle together

madeline's picture

cmon, we need hatch number 5!!!!!    anyone seen any pips for no. 5 yet?

Delorahilleary's picture

Not yet - but it's hard to tell when that last egg is covered by little white fuzzy bodies!

madeline's picture

5 hatchlings being fed  smiley

Delorahilleary's picture

I am about 80% sure I just saw five hatchling heads in the white lump pile of hatchlings. It's hard to tell when they are clustered together! Waiting for feeding time - it's certainly easier to count open beaks!

Delorahilleary's picture

Confirmed - five nestlings! All five eggs hatched! This means that all chicks are very close in age!

nc's picture

Yesterday afternoon (the 13th), I watched a funny scene between ma kestrel and pa kestrel. Ma arrived to take over brood duty but pa refused to budge, so she had to deal with it. And she did. She dived right underneath him! Here is a clip of the exchange. There is no sound (I'm sorry). Ma kestrel was chirping at pa kestrel during the exchange. I guess she was asking him to please move over.

http://tinypic.com/m/ioj8lg/3

Enjoy!

Delorahilleary's picture

Nice catch, and thanks for the share!

nc's picture

Thanks, and you're welcome!

Jill from MN's picture

Just now I was watching Mama Kestrel feeding the chicks, and there was one particularly tough tidbit that was too much for one of them to swallow.  When she proceeded to take it out of her chick's mouth, the chick held onto it and was swept up off its feet.  It took her a few attempts to get the food fragment out of reach of the chicks (she ate it herself) and she settled down over her brood soon after.  3:35 PM Boise time today.

Do you think adult kestrels keep their chicks from choking on food?

Love this kestrel coverage!  :)

Delorahilleary's picture

In general, if a young chick is having issues swallowing a chunk of food, the parent will be sure to remove it or readjust it. Young birds are also capable of swallowing much more than one would expect, as this image from Audubon demonstrates!

This chick just digested that snake over a period of time. Choking in baby falcons is actually quite rare, as they are quite capable of devouring large chunks of food.

qtcloud's picture

Why does the mother kestrel wiggle and shake so much when she's brooding the chicks?  I thought she was just settling down, but the amount of frequency of all that rocking and rolling makes me think she's doing it to maybe calm her brood?  She especially does it when they're peeping a lot, after not having been fed for awhile.

 

 

 

nc's picture

It's 5:44 PM PDT (the 14th) and she is occasionally doing it (vigorously shimmying) right now. One of the chicks seems to be restless and keeps chirping. They just had a feeding (rodent? shrew?), so I can't imagine it is hungry. Maybe ma kestrel wants it to settle down and go to sleep? I don't know. [shrugs] It's sort of amusing, though. I noticed the same behavior the night before we saw that three had hatched. One of the chicks kept loudly chirping like the one that is doing it now. Ma behaved the same way.

peep! peep! peep! That kestrel chick is still at it, lol. Maybe it thinks it's a songbird, lol. 

Delorahilleary's picture

Often times it's the chicks themselves wiggling and moving underneath the parent during brooding, and that causes the parent to shift their position in order to keep the chicks tucked under them. Sitting on a pile of babies isn't the most stable thing in the world smiley

nc's picture

Oh my word! That's almost like me trying to swallow an entire salmon whole!

Posted in General Discussion by Administrator - The Peregrine Fund 8 years 11 months ago.

 

accipiter