Kārearea - The New Zealand Falcon

Shooting footage remotely, on a budget, in a forest has its technical challenges. Although we only upload an image every 10 seconds that's really about the cost of streaming large amounts of data (Jeff Bezos, if you're out there we're open to assistance!) rather than the system we are using. We do capture video at a much higher frame rate and we will share it here.

It's regularly updated so check back often. This clip is from day one of the camera and shows the female returning to the nest with a very unlucky passerine.


Early morning feed. The video is played at double speed and this event took
five and a half minutes in real-time


I think anyone who has had to share a bed with a sibling will
know EXACTLY how these guys feel. The faces say it all!
Time lapsed video that covers 5:30 in real-time.

On the 17th the chicks decided to abandon the scrape that has been their home for twenty days. At the time
we thought that they may just have been seeking a cooler spot as the days grow longer - then we
reviewed the camera footage from the night before. A hedgehog strolls in to the nest and grabs a chick by
the head, the chick is fortunately large enough to fight the intruder off. Then the spikey evil doer attacks
the other chicks - for a full twelve minutes! The adult birds seem powerless to stop it.

Fortunately there was a happy ending and on the 18th we erected a temporary fence around the whole area
that we hope will be hedgehog proof. We could do that because of the unbelievable level of support from
people who have donated to the page. Donations covered the entire cost of materials so you guys should be
feeling really proud and you have our grateful thanks for your help.

We've also beefed up the outer ring of predator defenses with the aid of some loan traps from
Predator Free Peninsula who collected the gear from their hub and delivered it out to us just because they
are good guys.

In honour of their new high security environment we have renamed the area Falcatraz. Take a look at the
video, it certainly surprised us.

It seems the chicks like rabbit. Imaged 22/11/2021

26 days old and feeding on another unlucky bunny.

One month birthday and looking more like an adult evry day.