Nesting season is coming fast. Some raptors have already laid eggs so it’s time to start watching the nestcams for a window on the family lives of birds.
Here’s a selection of my favorites for your viewing pleasure. In fact there so many nestcams online now that I can’t possibly list them all.
- Peregrine Falcons:
- National Aviary falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh: My all-time favorite webcam shows my favorite birds! Above, Dorothy preens at her nest. Watch for her first egg in late March.
- Times Square Building, Rochester New York: The female at this site is Beauty, Dorothy’s daughter. If Dorothy had a computer she could watch her grandkids.
- Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio: The female at this site was hatched in Downtown Pittsburgh. Her name is SW.
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Falconcam: This cam rotates through several views.
- Wilmington, Delaware: The female at this site is often the first to lay an egg in the Mid-Atlantic. Update: First egg, March 7!
- Bald Eagles:
- Xcel Fort St. Vrain Eaglecam in Plattesville, Colorado: These eagles are on eggs!
- Alcoa, Davenport, Iowa: They’re on eggs, too!
- Southwest Florida Eagle Cam: Bald eagles in Florida start breeding in late fall. These juveniles are already as big as their parents and have brown feathers. They’ll fly soon.
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology nestcams:
- Start here on Cornell’s main nestcam page
- Feeder cam in Ontario, Canada: Not a nestcam but worth watching as you wait for other birds to lay eggs. This cam shows northern species such as pine grosbeaks and common redpolls.
This list is just the tip of the iceberg. If you have a favorite nestcam post it in Comments below.
(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh. Click on the image to watch the webcam)
p.s. I’ll also add more of my favorites as they come online.
http://sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Eagles4Kids.html
Lucy and Larry: A Love Story–Lucy suffered severe trauma to her feet and Larry stuck by her through it all! She lost all toes on her right foot and is now preparing to lay eggs! We hope!
Just a reminder, I know you just talked about them last week
http://www.pixcontroller.com/screechowl
This is the Eagle cam at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, MD. Since I grew up on the Maryland Eastern Shore, I enjoy seeing the two nest cams in this area. a link on the eagle site takes you to an osprey cam where you can often see the birds bringing fish to the nest. This nest is populated later in the season from the Eagles.
http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html
Barn Owls in Chula Vista, CA brooding 5 eggs – hopefully hatching late the first week of March
http://www.owlchannel.com/live.html
Eagles in Minnesota – parents preparing nest; some nice videos on youtube of bringing/rearranging nesting materials
http://www.mnbound.com/live-eagle-cam/
This is a website in the City of San Jose, CA. where their falcons have 4 eggs in the nest at the present time. I think the page lets you view for 5 minutes and then you need to refresh the page.
http://sanjose.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=&clip_id=&publish_id=91&event_id=
Iris & Rusty are Great Horned Owls. Iris recently laid three eggs (Feb 10, 13 & 16).
http://www.festivalofowls.com/livevideo.html
Here is a website with a whole list of webcams…
http://www.beakspeak.com/index.php/birdcams/
Can they please clean off the camera at the falcon nest on the Cathedral of Learning? Also are you going to follow the eagle nest in the Hays area of Pgh?
Pitt camera: No we can’t go out to the nest to clean the camera. It is way too close to egg-laying time. Human access to the nest area ended at the end of January.
Thank you for the reply about the camera..I would love to see some photos if possible of the eagle nest in Hays area…will you be doing any of that?
Here is the website for the San Francisco Peregrines at the PS&G building. www2.ucsc2.edu/scpbrg/nestcamSF_large.htm. She has laid at least 3 eggs & they should start hatching around 3/26. I believe that they even allow you to control the camera facing the nestbox for a donation. I’m not sure how many minutes you get though. Once they are ready to fledge you can watch them fly off of the building as well since the camera can rotate & they are near the ledge. You can even see the Golden Gate Bridge when the camera is facing that way