Happy 2017

Now that 2017 is off and running it is time to review 2016 and look forward to the coming season.

Both Durand (32/X), the female, and 30/Z (the male) have been seen with some frequency at the nest ledge.  Here they both are, taking advantage of some solar gain on what was a frigid January 8:

In 2016, 4 eggs were laid in the nest.  All hatched and fledged successfully!  Unfortunately, last season we had some issues with the server that rendered the live streaming video inoperable for much of egg laying, incubation and hatching.  It was also the first year we did not band or name the young.  These factors likely resulted in an overall lower number of viewers.  But interestingly, even though we had fewer viewers overall, the range of geography greatly increased in 2016! 

Columbus FalconCam Blog stats for Jan. 1 - Dec 31, 2016:

119,479 total visits from 29,851 individual users (compared to 39,325 in 2015)

The highest traffic day was April 19, 2016 with 2,721 hits (this was during hatching)

Visits came from 90 countries/territories!!  This compares to 71 the year before!

Ohioans made up 78% of the audience with 93,238 visits!!!

Thanks to all of our fans for a very impressive following!

Looking forward to 2017 we are hopeful to have some upgrades that will give us more reliable streaming with fewer outages.  Eggs are typically laid about the 3rd week in March.  Many will be watching anxiously to see if the previous male (Spark 32/B) returns to claim the territory or if 30/Z will become our new resident male.  In either case, here's hoping for a productive nest again in 2017!