Another Bird Cam

This one is located at the Oracle HQ, my new place of work (due to the acquisition of Hyperion).

Oracle FalconCam

Details from the site:

For the fourth time in seven years, peregrine falcons are nesting at Oracle's campus in Redwood Shores, CA. Four peregrine chicks have taken up residence on the roof of the 400 Building, and can be monitored in real-time on the Oracle Falconcam, installed in a partnership between Oracle Marketing and the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group.

This is just the latest visit from Sadie, a peregrine that nested at Oracle in 2000, 2001, and 2002. "We think Sadie has returned, because the peregrine we're watching on the nestcam has a black band on her right leg, and a silver one on her left—just like Sadie. If the letters "S" and "D" are printed vertically on the black band (these letters are where Sadie's name comes from), then Sadie has, indeed, returned," said Rosalie Gann, Director, Oracle Corporate Giving.

Glenn Stewart, Staff Research Associate, Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, University of California, (UC Santa Cruz), will be monitoring the nest with us to see if the peregrine is Sadie, who he rescued from the Bay Bridge as a chick in 1998, banded, fledged, and then released back into the wild at Muir Beach north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

"In 2000, we saw Sadie on the Oracle roof, so, in cooperation with Oracle, we built a nest box for her," Glenn explained. "She laid four eggs then, too. Since then, Oracle and UC Santa Cruz have worked together to educate children about peregrine falcons" through classroom education programs and the Falconcam.

While Sadie hasn't nested at Oracle for the last five years, she hasn't been far away. Peregrine falcons often have more than one nest and typically choose dominant structures such as the Oracle building.

"We didn't know where she was nesting for a couple of years, and then one day, an Oracle employee was running on a trail a couple of miles from the Oracle campus and heard a peregrine falcon," Glenn said. "He called UC Santa Cruz, and we discovered that Sadie was nesting on a transmission tower in a stick nest stolen from ravens, which is a little unusual."

The Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group monitors and tracks peregrines such as Sadie. UC Santa Cruz biologists will band any young that Sadie produces, but otherwise, the peregrines will be left alone for the duration of the nesting cycle.

In California and many other U.S. states, the peregrine is an endangered species, as well as a fully protected species. Due to the success of release programs in North America, peregrine falcons are increasing in numbers and no longer are on the U.S. federal endangered species list.