Falcon Cam Returns

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has the Dunn Memorial Bridge webcam working again. Their site said they had a bad transmitter earlier this month, but it seems to be fixed now, just in time for egg watching:

Dunn Memorial Bridge Falcon Nest - Larger View


Albany-Rensselaer, NY Peregrine Falcon Nest Site History

Albany, the state's capital, is fortunate to have a pair of endangered Peregrine Falcons nesting on the Dunn Memorial Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between the Cities of Albany and Rensselaer.

I'm quoting the DEC's 2008 summary for our Peregrines, as it doesn't seem to be linked from the rest of the site (the image is a screen capture I saved):

2008 was the fourth year in a row that a clutch of five eggs was produced, and egg laying began a couple of weeks earlier than has been typical at this nest site. Three of the eggs hatched on April 28th, and a fourth egg hatched on May 1st. On May 21st, four female chicks were fitted with metal leg bands and the single unhatched egg was removed from the nest box along with prey remains. During the fledging period in mid May, one of the four chicks was found swimming in the Hudson River by a tugboat crew. They removed the bird from the water, and Wildlife staff who found the bird to be well fed and without apparent injury, took it to the Rensselaer Riverfront Park to dry off and continue the fledging process. Although we do not know for certain, it is believed that the four chicks ultimately fledged from the bridge successfully.

She was just living up to her name - "peregrine" means "having a tendency to wander". According to Word For The Wise, peregrine falcons got the name because the young were captured while wandering from their nests, which were inaccessible to the falconers.

Here is the DEC's report on New York State Peregrine Falcons 2008 (great cover photo!). Here's a Times-Union article from Feb. 13, 2009, when the report was released:

Peregrine falcons fly to top in state
Reintroduced in 1983, birds produce record number of chicks, dominate East