Updates - This & That

We heard recently that Boomer (C/66 hatched in Columbus in 2008), has taken over the nesting territory at the Terminal Tower in Cleveland! The last time he was seen in Columbus was at the end of June, 2008. He had at least one collision with a window after fledgling so it is great to know that he has since fared well. Click here to review the fledging info from 2008. Be sure and check out the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's FalconCam coverage of the Terminal Tower nest and the associated falcon forums.

Durand and Trooper have both been making appearances at the nestbox every day or so and while there they have been demonstrating pair bonding behavior (bowing and vocalizing to each other). This activity is in preparation for next year: we are well beyond nesting season this year so there is no chance of another nest attempt in 2010. Both birds have also been working on the scrape in the gravel - again, this is bonding to/claiming of the site as theirs in preparation for next spring.

We also had a separate report of Durand "buzzing" around the 25th and 26th floors of the Franklin County Courthouse. Thanks to the Human Resources staff at the courthouse for snapping and sharing this photo of her on a window ledge taken on Tuesday, September 7, 2010!

Camera Update: In this the off-season we have begun experimenting with different camera settings to see if we can tweak the system to provide better viewing in late day conditions when the sun is in the west and the nestbox is in shadow. Bright sun shining towards the camera combined with a dark corner of the ledge confuses the iris of the camera and results in the dark corner being too dark to see any detail. The process of adjusting camera settings is by trial and error so expect that sometimes the image may not be ideal if the settings are not correct-viewers may notice the image being extremely bright or dark. Each time a setting is changed we will leave it for at least 24 hours to see how the image looks at different times of day/in different lighting conditions. We appreciate every one's patience as we work through this process of fine tuning the settings with the ultimate goal to make viewing our site more enjoyable in the long run.

Finally, the investigation concerning Scout's death is still ongoing. State and Federal investigators take the matter very seriously and are cooperating fully. Information, when available to the public, will be posted here on the blog but these matters can sometimes take a very long time to get through. No details or information can be disclosed until the matter is fully closed otherwise risk compromising the investigation. Thanks for your patience and thanks for watching the Columbus Falcons!