1 Apr 23 — Wait!
“Eh! Wait! You were meant to beg for a bit longer!” 😉
I have put the #FledgeWatch notices up around the hospital this morning. P6T is in the second shot, he was preening on the left hand side corner of the ledge.
I really hope there won’t be any accident during the weekend because I have to go away. I will be keeping an eye on the cameras when I can. I have asked some friends and neighbours to keep watch and help to rescue P6T if necessary.
I will start Fledge Watch on Monday morning.
Anyone is welcome to come and help watch, keep me company or relieve me for a while. I hope he fledges on Tuesday or Wednesday but, with young Peregrines, you really can’t tell!
Indy had her accident on Day 40 (that’s Monday for P6T) but really didn’t fledge until 4 days later, Walnut fledged on Day 43 (Thursday), Jack fledged on Day 44 (Friday).
He again spent the night out on the wall, in the same spot at the night before. He hasn’t been in the box since Monday unless going after a parent. Which has given Tom the opportunity to go and do a bit of housekeeping in there. It’s needed!
Tom was doing long shifts at the beginning of the long weekend but this got seriously reduced today. From 5hr19 on Friday to only 1hr21 today. The reduction today could be due to the weather and today’s downpours and Azina preferring doing the most of the incubation in these conditions. But this also corresponds to Tom starting bringing prey after not doing so for three weeks. This is the exact same pattern as last year two days before hatching…
Here are a few shots from the last four days.
And a couple of videos:
Chick #2 is still full of energy and has been exploring the ledge multiple times today. It is turning into a beautiful dark Peregrine as revealed in the last couple of days with a lot of down falling off. Soon it’ll be just those fluffy pantaloons left!
Chick #3 on the other hand is still causing me some concern. I go back and forth on it as on one hand it is spending a fair bit of time sleeping sitting up like Chick #1 used to do. But on the other one it is still showing big bursts of energy, bouncing and flapping. And a big appetite. I am crossing everything.
Azina finally brought some Parakeet at the end of today. A break from that endless Pigeon diet. She fed it to them in two feeds. The two previous feeds were more Pigeon.
Tom moved the body of Chick #1 by the entrance of the nest box. He was trying to haul it inside, presumably to feed it to the chicks, but it was proving too heavy for him. Later, he started plucking it but gave up very quickly. So it’s now in an awkward spot for the chicks going in and out of the box.
Not many shots again today. I love that first shot of Chick #2 and its reflection in the water!
Today is P6T’s five weeks birthday!
He’s had a great day full of running around and flapping, with plenty of resting and preening in between. He can sprint along the runway at a fair speed! And does it sometimes while flapping (clip below for example).
He also pancaked on the wall for the first time, which means he now feels very confident on it.
He again spent the night out on the wall, in the same spot at the night before. He hasn’t been in the box since Monday unless going after a parent. Which has given Tom the opportunity to go and do a bit of housekeeping in there. It’s needed!
Name. A few people have asked if I’m going to name him. To be honest I am quite happy calling him P6T (it’s easy to say, which is usually my criterion for giving a name) and I haven’t been inspired so far. Maybe something will come during fledging but for now I will stick to it.
Funny clip to finish with before today’s album:
Today’s shots:
The remaining egg got in a position today that allowed me to say that the egg that hatched yesterday was the one that had been trying since Thursday. Between the moment I first saw the pipping and hatching that’s 54 hours.
All are doing well. Tom got to do a little bit of brooding and some feeding but the majority of this has been done by Azina.
The chicks got 7 feeds today! A mix of Starling and Pigeon again.
In the following clip, Tom does his best feeding the chicks with what he’s got 🙂 The chicks were fed an hour before and were not very hungry.
The chicks’ third feed of the day. All the chicks got some food but one of them ended up with the first bulging crop I’ve seen so far!
Shots for today:
Quiet days. Tom did a lot less incubating yesterday (a mixture of him not turning up and Azina saying no) and Azina ended up doing nearly 16hrs on the trot overnight.
He did an average day today (3hr40) over three shifts. He also brought some pigeon but Azina wasn’t interested then.
The last shot is of Tom on the lookout on a crane this evening. We could hear Azina calling to him but I don’t think he could. He eventually turned up to relieve her a while later.
Before this we saw him very nearly catch a hospital pigeon (there was contact) he’d flushed.
A few shots from yesterday and today.