Author Topic: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2016-22  (Read 18882 times)

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Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #83 on: April 18, 2021, 10:24 »
Hoping for another egg today. Zooey arrived and repositioned the egg before she hovered as if testing her brood patch. She has spent much of the morning in the nest box.  ::)


Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #82 on: April 16, 2021, 15:53 »
Zooey just laid an egg!




I just looked and could see it was imminent. Had almost given up hope that this would be a "wait until next year" due to her young age. Great capture RCF. Thanks for posting!

Offline RCF

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #81 on: April 16, 2021, 15:45 »
Zooey just laid an egg!





Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #80 on: April 13, 2021, 04:49 »
As time goes by, it is becoming increasingly evident there may be no eggs due to Zooey's young age. Not as if they haven't been trying.  ::)

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #79 on: March 25, 2021, 18:05 »
I really need to learn how to take a screen shot.  ???

I can show you sometime ... for the moment, happy to help out.

This is a photo shown in comments about 4 hours ago. Disturbing to say the least. I, for one, have never seen a mess like this following a meal. TPC?

Couple of times - sometimes it can be as a result of a bird mantling over their prey and their breast comes in contact with fresh blood OR it can be where they are eating such that "dinner" is big or on an angle or something so that the bird has to reach over thereby dragging their feathers through the blood.  That much mess ... not too often though.

Talons look like that bird is recreating the life and crimes of Jack the Ripper!

Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #78 on: March 25, 2021, 14:40 »

 I really need to learn how to take a screen shot.  ???
This is a photo shown in comments about 4 hours ago. Disturbing to say the least. I, for one, have never seen a mess like this following a meal. TPC?

Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #77 on: March 24, 2021, 13:24 »
No eggs as yet, but the unbanded female has been given a name by the Raptor Resource Project. As seen in the comments under the live cam is the following....
"We have selected a name for UBF (Zooey - New Girl - Life) knowing that she is a young female and we are sure hoping that she will be productive giving new falcon life to the skies above the mighty Mississippi! She has checked out almost every spot to perch, copulate, and most important work on the scrape in anticipation of eggs".
Which location for eggs is undecided. She was seen in the nest box today making a scrape, but continues to frequent the lower ledge as well. Time will tell.

Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #76 on: March 15, 2021, 15:10 »
A weather advisory is in effect for Minnesota, including this site. Snow is getting heavier and collecting in the nest box. In the wide view, you cannot see the Mississippi river.

 https://youtu.be/xYInTHcdkWc

https://youtu.be/_eggY8kTTLI
« Last Edit: March 15, 2021, 15:22 by GCG »

Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #75 on: March 15, 2021, 08:10 »
Newman was seen making a scrape at approximately 7:30 A.M. CDT  Could we soon see eggs?  ::)



« Last Edit: March 15, 2021, 08:12 by GCG »

Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #74 on: March 14, 2021, 07:06 »
Comments on the GSB link seems to believe that the unbanded female, referred to as UB7 may be Newman's mate this season. Nova hasn't been seen for days. Newman and UB7 were observed mating again this morning. Stay tuned!

Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #73 on: March 13, 2021, 10:40 »
The following was posted on the RRP site

"On March 9 at about 6:37am central time, GSB watchers witnessed a peregrine falcon territorial battle. Resident female Nova came back after a three-day absence and drove interloper Nina away. After ousting Nina, Nova copulated with Newman and disappeared again.


Are the falcons okay?
Neither falcon appeared to have been seriously injured in the fight. We zoomed in on Nova’s eyes – our primary concern – and they appeared to be fine. Either Nina or Nova could come back to Great Spirit Bluff, try to claim a different nest (the La Crosse US Bank nest box is the closest, at five miles away), or skip breeding entirely. Right now, raptor migration is in full swing. But all the activity should ebb within the next two weeks as everyone settles down. We believe that the falcons will eventually lay eggs, although the turmoil could push GSB’s schedule back.

Why didn’t Newman defend either falcon? Is this unusual?
Female falcons [falcons] are about a third bigger than males [tiercels]. It would be very risky for a male to take on a larger female, especially at close quarters, so males usually fight males and females usually fight females.

It is not unusual for falcons to fight over territory, especially in the spring. But it is a little unusual for Nova to disappear. Usually a female peregrine shows up a little after the male, accepts her mate’s courtship, and chases other female falcons away almost as soon as they appear. But Nova disappeared between March 6th and March 9th, came back to fight Nina over the territory, and vanished again after copulating with Newman. Perhaps she is considering another nesting site or distracted by all of the activity around her. We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks."
One the live cam site, there are comments about an unbanded female going through plumage changes in and around the nest and also Nova on the ledge where she prefers to frequent. Time will tell. I will refer to this drama to what RCF said..As the Bluff Turns.  ;D



Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #72 on: March 12, 2021, 11:41 »
 :o This was difficult to watch. We can only hope for the return of Nova. After losing the chicks last year to the owls, I would love to see a successful season at this site.

Offline The Peregrine Chick

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #71 on: March 11, 2021, 18:44 »
There was a fight in the box this morning between the resident female "Nova" and the female Nina M/04. Nina got the brunt of it.  Like they say " As the bluff turns."

For those who would like a bit more detail, nice video (for a territorial battle in a nestbox) and information from the RRP.
https://www.raptorresource.org/2021/03/10/march-9-2021-territorial-battle-at-great-spirit-bluff/


Offline RCF

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #70 on: March 09, 2021, 12:36 »
There was a fight in the box this morning between the resident female "Nova" and the female Nina M/04. Nina got the brunt of it.  Like they say " As the bluff turns."

Offline GCG

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Re: MN / Great Spirit Bluff - 2021 / Newman & Zooey
« Reply #69 on: March 08, 2021, 15:38 »
For those on Facebook, Raptor Resource Project is there.

https://www.facebook.com/RaptorResourceProject