Nesting Peregrine Falcons online

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi!

I have been enjoying watching a nest of Peregrine falcons from the comfort of my desktop for the past week and thought it was time to share this joy with the rest of you!

The nest is on a building at the Nottingham Trent University in the UK. The nest has three eyases (falcon chicks, I had to look it up!) which are now about 14/16 days old. So far they appear to be strong and healthy; growing quickly. The parents are very attentive, apparently having bred there successfully in past years.

Feeding times are great to watch with the interaction among the birds - not so great for the pigeons, swallows and other prey, but that is what Peregrines do! And yes, some of the pigeons are ringed, so are probably not wild or feral.

The link is: http://www.ntu.ac.uk/ecoweb/biodiver...aignid=falcons

Enjoy!

Gerald

[John Chardine]

Thank you for the link Gerald. These live-cams really give you an intimate window into the world of wildlife.

I had never seen the word "eyas" before either, and I do crosswords!

[adrian dancy]

Eyas and male Peregrine known as tercial (Tassel, Tercal male falcon) Gentle because it is about a third (tierce) smaller than the Falcon (female) are terms used mainly by falconers. The terms have crept into birding recently. The terms annoy the **** out of me since they are totally unnecessary. The terms are often used (I feel) to impress rather than educate.

[Roy Priest]

Eyas and male Peregrine known as tercial (Tassel, Tercal male falcon) Gentle because it is about a third (tierce) smaller than the Falcon (female) are terms used mainly by falconers. The terms have crept into birding recently. The terms annoy the **** out of me since they are totally unnecessary. The terms are often used (I feel) to impress rather than educate.

You probably use falconry terms all the while without knowing it. For instance booze, fed up, hoodwinked, callow, gorge, haggard and that's just off the top of my head. Tiercel and Falcon are usefull as you don't need to add male or female as it is covered in the name. Same for gerkin, jack and musket.

[adrian dancy]

It is quite true that such terms have crept into the English language and are in general use without the user understanding the origin. So what? If I had a penny every time someone said 'tercial which is the male' or variations on that theme I'd be a rich man. There is no efficiency gained. Even worse to be told the 'male tercial'. Or to be told what the tercial is then the same individual then refers to the 'tercial' as 'the male' in the rest of the conversation, or when you have adopted the falconry terms when with a faconer or someone 'in the know' and you refer to the 'falcon' (female) and then get asked which sex you are refering to it all gets a bit tedious. What's the point? In most instances when in conversation, you would use the prep word 'the' to preceed tiercel or falcon. Since we know the species we are talking about to say 'the male' or 'the female' is just as clear and is understood by all , there are no doubts and no requests for further and better particulars. If your logic was to be applied to every species then we would just have more pointless facts to learn.

Notwithstanding the above I remain of the view that the phrases referred to above are most often used by folk simply to impress.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Adrian,

You seem to have taken the discussion in quite an unexpected direction!

I agree that sloppy use of the language should be discouraged, but I don't think we should allow that to stop us from learning and enjoying specific terms and words. But then, of course, there is the duty to use them correctly.

Best wishes,

Gerald

[adrian dancy]

Hi Gerald

I'm not having a go at you. I have watched peregrines for a good number of years and I can only speak from my experience.

However I agree that my post took a turn that distracts from the main point of the thread and that is to enjoy the Peregrines at Nottingham or elsewhere, so I apologise. They are without doubt my favourite birds.

[John Chardine]

Eyas and male Peregrine known as tercial (Tassel, Tercal male falcon) Gentle because it is about a third (tierce) smaller than the Falcon (female) are terms used mainly by falconers. The terms have crept into birding recently. The terms annoy the **** out of me since they are totally unnecessary. The terms are often used (I feel) to impress rather than educate.

Adrian- This is perhaps not the place for a discussion about language and the English lexicon. However, I will say that English is such a rich language exactly because of ancient pastimes such as falconry which have contributed to this richness. There are lots of examples of this- horses and equestrianism and sailing being just a couple. I love learning these words and their origins (even if I'll never use them again), and using them keeps them alive in the language in an age when many cannot string three words together in a coherent fashion. As you know Adrian, birders, particularly British ones have their own rich lexicon of terms.

On a side note, I agree with your later post that "male tercial" is inappropriate, it being an example of a pleonasm. Other notable examples being ATM machine, PIN number etc.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Adrian. I didn't feel at all "got at", so don't worry.

John, agree entirely. I think I will have to hunt out some more pleonasms!

Enjoy!

Gerald

[Roy Priest]

Geez. sorry for my post. Gerald, thanks for posting the link. Peregrines were my choice of bird to fly. My favourite was an eyas tiercel Peales that didn't mantle or crab with other birds.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Funny to see how the falconers terms have come into our language.

I don't think I will ever again be able to "mute" an audio device without smiling; and British photographer Tony Rouse will forever be shaking his feathers!

Regards,

Gerald

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi,

If you took a look at the fluffy little Peregrine eyases, or not, you may be interested to see this quick screen grab of their progress.

Two falcons and one tercel at 38 days. Contemplating the drop - almost ready to go!

Best wishes,

Gerald