In the Nestbox: A Film by Phil French

       The Red Deer River Naturalists(RDRN) have a monthly general meeting where we present a speaker. Last night we presented a film produced by Phil French who is the vice president of RDRN.
  
        Phil started his presentation with a short talk before the film. Phil covered his life and how he became interested in nature and filming and how this lead to his film. It was amusing that in his younger days he became interested in bow hunting and the camouflage which goes with bow hunting. This part of his life wasn't too successful;l as far as hunting was concerned but it taught him about perception and viewing and that camouflage was important. The ultimate thing he learned was that you become part of nature.

      After the hunting part of his life he accidentally discovered video. This immediately meshed with his love of nature so with some experience and practice he began to put films together. His first large project was to film the Red Deer River from start to finish. He has showed this film many times. His reflection on his life went well with his film.

      His latest film covered his intense interest in birds and an encounter with Jim Potter who is an expert in nest boxes with ducks and owls. They were able to set up web cams in nest boxes and together with Potter explaining the structure of nest boxes and then monitoring nest boxes a fine film was produced. It was amazing to see ducklings climb out of the nest box and find the mother and follow her to the water.

      We were treated to a very excellent film and even a seasoned birder saw a whole new world.

Red Deer Peregrine Falcons Fledge

         Around the end of April a link was put on this blog to a web cam the Red Deer River Naturalists(RDRN) had put up on the Telus tower in conjunction with Telus and Canadian Wildlife. Many people from around the world have checked in to watch the activities of the peregrine falcons.

         First, they took possession of the nest. They laid five eggs over more than five days. They began incubating. There wasn't much to watch during this phase. Two eggs mysteriously disappeared about mid incubation. Finally, the three eggs hatched over about five days. This left one bird very small. Viewers were constantly worried about the smallest bird.

         Two days ago, July 13, the birds left the nest. What excitement! They are still coming back at night to the nest.

       Now in a few days the web cam will be turned off. We have to think it was a tremendous success. Many people learned about peregrines as well as other topics on the chat line with the web cam. We(RDRN) enjoyed the experience.

      We (RDRN) are left with planning for next year. We hope to be able to put the web cam up again next year with the partnership of Telus. We also want to have a web cam placed outside the box so that we can observe what goes on out side the box. If you have suggestions or comments please make them so that next year can be even more successful.