Du Bois Library Falcons

The Falcon Cam is now live!

2018

When we installed the camera for the 2018 season on April 23, we found one egg in the nest. Because of the cold temperatures and wet weather in April, it appears the single early egg is inviable. With the past as our guide, we are hopeful the mating pair will lay additional eggs this season. Thank you for watching.

2017

There were originally four eggs in the nest box for the 2017 season. Over the weekend of May 6-7, two of the eggs were lost. One disappeared and the other was eaten by the female parent. We cannot be certain of the cause of the loss of the eggs. On Wednesday, May 10, two chicks pipped and hatched. On May 30, Tom French and David Paulson of MassWildlife banded the two chicks. The female chick is band number 08 Black over BV Green, and the male chick is band number 07 Black over BU Green. They both successfully fledged in mid June and can still be seen on camera, although not as regularly as viewers would hope! If you are on campus this summer and fall, look up and listen and chances are you'll see and hear them!

Peregrine falcons have successfully nested on the roof of the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst since 2003. The previous pair, which nested on the Library roof from 2003-2014, hatched a total of 37 chicks. The live webcam was installed in 2012 thanks to the UMass Amherst Facilities Planning Division, UMass Amherst Information Technology, the Libraries' Systems and Web Management Department, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife), and the Friends of the Libraries.

We hope you enjoy the Falcon Cam. It is intended to intervene with nature as little as possible; intervention with wildlife is never taken lightly. For chicks to fledge successfully under observation, we let nature take its course as much as possible. If the need to intervene should arise, the Library works with university, state, and federal agencies to determine when and if this will occur. The birds are wild and have chosen to nest in the box; there has been a pair of Peregrine Falcons at this same site for many years. We hope you understand that we care deeply for the falcons and do whatever we can to help them thrive while respecting the natural balance.

Questions about the Falcon Cam? Contact Carol Connare at cconnare@library.umass.edu or 413-545-0995.

Thank you for your patience.