Peregrines on the Web
The Peregrine Falcon has the widest distribution of any falcon. It can be found across the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia. Websites have been set up in several countries to provide visitors with an opportunity to observe the breeding cycle of the Peregrine Falcon, many of which are urban birds. We outline some of the best of these sites below.
Webcams
Some webcams are very much better than others. Not many sites are live (or “streaming”) and the majority show still pictures which change every 10–20 seconds. Some sites have very good commentaries and some also hold really good galleries of pictures taken at the site.
UK
Derby Cathedral
http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/
The Derby Cathedral site is by far the best in the UK, with regular updates, good notes and some excellent pictures. 10 second picture changes.
Sussex Heights, Brighton
http://www.regencybrighton.com/birds/
Brighton was the first webcam in Britain and has a very good archive, but the frequency of the picture change (about every 30 seconds) makes it difficult to watch for any length of time.
Plymbridge Cann Quarry
Plymbridge can be very good and has an interesting commentary, but is often unavailable for technical reasons.
St. Andrews Spire, Worcester
http://www.worcester.gov.uk/peregrine/cam2.php
A new site featuring a pair of birds nesting on a church spire.
The Netherlands
De Mortel Comms. Tower
http://www.beleefdelente.nl/slechtvalk
The site at De Mortel is live all day and night and is one of the very best in the world. As well as its live pictures, it also provides frequent video clips of recent highlights and although the notes are all in Dutch, the Babelfish translation website can always assist.
Electrabel power stations (Njimegen, Eemsmond, Zwolle, Amsterdam etc.)
http://preview.tinyurl.com/nj3eqq
The Electrabel page features several Peregrine and Kestrel nestboxes so gives a good variety of pictures but there is little in the way of commentary.
Germany
Oberhausen
http://www.bswr.de/florafauna/fauna/wanderfalke/obkamerainnen.php
Oberhausen has now closed down for the season, but is a good site when in operation and is live.
Italy
Birdcam (Rome, Bologna and Florence)
http://www.birdcam.it/cam.php?camid=1&subpage=cam01.php
This one website features a number of Peregrine and Kestrel nest sites and can be made available in English by clicking the Union Jack at the right hand end of the titles. The site at Bologna is particularly interesting in that the pair here often complete their clutch in late February, to be amongst the first in Europe. The names of the birds are used in the commentaries and it is helpful to know which sites are used by which birds — Aria and Vento nest at the Terna (Terna is the National Grid) office in Rome; Alice and Virgilio are on a communications tower in the outskirts of Rome; Felix and Aisha use a crevice in an older building in Bologna whilst Giotto and Momma Teresa are on the famous Duomo in Florence/Firenze.
USA
It is important to note that all parts of the USA are up to 8 hours behind the time in the UK. The effect of this is to make it impossible to obtain a worthwhile picture here until about 1400 UK time, because until then it is then dark “over there”. One can, however, watch these particular sites well into the British night!
Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group:
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PGE Office Block, San Francisco
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City Hall, San Jose
The well established websites at San Francisco and San Jose work well and are both live. (Commentary about these birds can be found at the following websites: San Francisco/PG&E Building Falcons discussion group and San Jose City Hall Falcons discussion group. For more info about the San Jose birds visit the San Jose Peregrines wiki.)
Cleveland CMNH
http://falconcam-cmnh.org/news.php
The Cleveland site meanwhile, consists of s series of batches of 60 still photos, one photo for every minute of each of the seven hours on display at any one time. Interestingly this makes it possible to detect the exact times when adults arrive and depart.
Pittsburgh Gulf Tower
Canada
The Canadian Peregrine Foundation website is quite massive and from its large and comprehensive index it is simple to check several active nests and to access a vast archive of diary notes which have been amassed over the years. Another highlight is the wealth of photos and few viewers will fail to be impressed by those taken at the Burlington site in 2005, for example.
Canadian Peregrine Foundation
http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/fullmenu.html
Links to several webcams, including hose in Toronto and some of its suburbs (Mississauga and Etobicoke).
Australia
Unlike the situation in the USA, Australian time is about 11 hours ahead of that in the UK, whilst the seasons are completely reversed, with high summer in December/January and the commencement of the Peregrine breeding season in about September. Thus, once the season in the UK is over, Peregrines will just be starting “down under.”
Alcoa Power Station, Anglesea, (near Geelong, south of Melbourne)
http://www.alcoa.com/australia/en/info_page/falcon_webcam.asp
Admiralty Towers Brisbane (“Frodocam”)
http://blogs.news.com.au/couriermail/frodocam/
The Anglesea site is a good one to follow, although the colour of the nest box is a bit of a surprise! At Brisbane, unfortunately, the birds chose to nest elsewhere in 2008, and it remains to be seem what happens this season. When it is up and running, the “Frodocam” site has excellent commentaries and a good question and answer section.
Other sites of note
US
Southern Cross Peregrine Project
http://www.frg.org/SC_PEFA.htm
This site follows radio tagged Peregrines on migration between South America and their breeding grounds in the Arctic, with maps and daily feedback.
Nick Dunlop Photography
Nick Dunlop's website contains stunning images of adult and juvenile Peregrines in the wild.
Sharp Eyes Online
http://www.sharpeyesonline.com
Will James Sooter's portfolio contains excellent photos of Peregines at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and La Jolla, California.
The Netherlands
Falco Peregrinus (Froona’s website)
http://falcoperegrinus-froona.blogspot.com/
Each season this has given reports and photographs from a vast range of breeding sites all over the world on a daily basis. It contains several very useful links and is able to serve as a valuable archive. Sadly, Froona died in March 2009, but her website is currently still available and is well worth a visit.
Update: Friends of Froona are working on translating her website into English. You can view the work in progress at the following address: http://www.falcoperegrinus.org/index-en.html.
Flickr: "peregrine"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/peregrine/
Flickr is a website where users can upload and share their photographs. Images can be tagged with keywords, allowing users to search for all photographs tagged with a specific word. There are currently over eight thousand images tagged with the word "Peregrine," including wild birds from around the world, along with Peregrines from zoos, rehabilitation centres and falconry displays. You can subscribe to a Flickr feed using a free news reader service such as Bloglines or Google Reader, which will let you know when new images tagged "Peregrine" have been uploaded to the site.
