Tom paid 2 visits to the nest ledge today.
He spent around 5 minutes during the morning visit, here is a clip of most of it:
In the afternoon, he was hoping Charlie would join him for a display, here is is popping his head out of the box looking at her at the other end of the ledge:
Azina laid her third egg at 5.52 this morning, with Tom in attendance. She’d just got up at 5.45 when Tom arrived in the box with food. They have a chat then she gets into position at 5.51, pushes at 5.52 and lifts up at 5.53. Effortless 🙂 Tom then leaves, leaving the food behind, and Azina settles down.
She then sat tight on the eggs for hours, not revealing all three until 9:10 a.m. The new egg is the one at the back. The first one is on the right and the second one on the left.
I think it is fair to say that the last egg is not going to hatch now. Looking back at shots from egg-laying time I think this was egg #2 that didn’t hatch. The colour contrast between the brightly coloured freshly laid eggs and now is quite big. All this rolling on gravel does wear them out.
But we have three healthy chicks. And the little one is no push-over!
The Peregrines day started early with Tom bringing food at 4:37 a.m. Azina fed it to the chicks but I am not sure how much they could see each other at first as it looked a bit tentative.
Then at 5:47 Tom came in and had a long discussion with Azina. He really went into her face at times!
Tom fed the chicks this morning and did a very good job of it. Azina has let him be a hands-on Dad a fair bit this time. She left him in charge for nearly an hour in the morning and in the afternoon.
The oldest chick has started to do a little bit of preening.
The chicks got 6 feeds today, at 4:37, 7:04 (by Tom), 11:20, 2:41pm, 4:56pm and 7:17pm. A mix of Starling and Pigeon again.
Shots for today:
I am posting only one video today. It’s a long one but has a bit of everything: chicks on their own, Tom feeding Azina, Tom feeding the chicks under Azina, Azina feeding the chicks, Azina brooding the chicks… And the little one went on a small adventure and Azina had to bring it back into the fold…
Something worked up the pair around 1pm today but I couldn’t see what it was… (first five shots)
And a few more shots from today.
A couple of attempts at courtship displays today.
It all started early, before the cameras had switched back from night setting, with Tom landing on the nest ledge, followed by Charlie. Tom went to the nest box.
But Charlie preferred to eat.
After she’d finished eating, Charlie went to cache the remains in their usual spot on the ledge, feaked for a bit and was sitting when Tom decided to go in the nest box and tried to entice her for a display.
But, it looks like she wasn’t interested.
So he finished the remains instead.
Later in the afternoon, I was walking through the cemetery, when I heard Peregrine calls and saw Tom land on the corner of the nest box. A minute later I saw Charlie arrive from the South, circle a bit and then land on the ledge at the other end. Tom immediately went into the box but Charlie took her time and by the time she got to the nest box Tom had gone on the wall.
Her turn to try and entice him and fail 😉
“What have I done to deserve this?”
A great start to 2019!
It’s been a typical day in the life of a young Peregrine. Long periods of inactivity with pancaking or sitting watching the world go by and preening. Bursts of mad activity with running around, jumping and flapping. P6T’s flapping is getting stronger and longer.
He was fed twice, pigeon both times.
Today’s shots:
