Pretty much the same as yesterday. A few more intruders. I happened to be walking through the cemetery this morning when I spotted Tom sparring with a female Peregrine (who may have been a juvenile – it all happened so fast). But it didn’t look overly aggressive, a bit playful. Then Azina came off the eggs, Tom went to incubate and the intruder took off East.
A clip for you: ‘If I ignore her maybe she’ll let me incubate a bit longer’… Tom ignored Azina for two minutes before she went into the nest box and then she had to beg him 😉
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.
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.
Today was Chick #3’s four weeks birthday. It tried jumping on the wall five times, without success. I’d say the situation is otherwise the same as yesterday. It is still quite lively, has been going up and down the ledge a few times, has a big appetite but doesn’t pancake or preen much. And when it pancakes it doesn’t look restful. It needs to preen to break the pins and remove the down.
Chick #3
Talking of removing down, there isn’t that much left now on Chick #2’s back. That chick is still looking 100% fine. It pancakes a preens a lot. And it’s very lively. Much livelier than Chick #3 but, first, it’s three days older and, second, I think it’s a male and Chick #3 a female and males tend to be a bit more tightly strung.
Chick #2
Big achievement for Chick #2 today with a successful jump on the wall at its first attempt. It tried where it’s marginally easier (from experience of watching the chicks through the years) but, still, it’s a great achievement.
Chick #3 also attempted to jump on the wall but failed each time. Here are four of her five attempts.
The chicks were only fed three times today, once by Tom and twice by Azina. Again it was Pigeon on the menu all the way.
The situation is pretty much unchanged. Chick #2 still looks 100% fine and Chick #3 doesn’t look neither worse nor better. Chick #2 managed to jump on the wall three times, twice at the nestbox end and once at the opposite end.
Chick #3 has tried too seven times but didn’t succeed.
They didn’t get fed until very late. 6:20pm! Then they had another feed two hours later and ‘have gone to bed’ with full crops. Chick #2 was struggling to swallow the bigger pieces but managed the smaller ones. Strangely enough on day 33 last year Indy wasn’t fed until the afternoon too. But not quite that late.
Azina feeding the chicks on the ledge
Around 11 today I saw Tom attacking a Buzzard. This Buzzard wasn’t having it and was twisting talons up to par Tom’s attacks. It was pretty epic. This Buzzard called a few times during the attack, not a sound you hear much in Fulham! Usually Tom manages to get the Buzzards to lose a fair bit of height with his attacks but not this time. He must have judged after a few minutes that the bird had got the message, stopped and returned to the hospital while the Buzzard flew East. It was arriving from the North initially.
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.
P6T stretching his wings – a lot less down than a few days ago
He was fed twice, pigeon both times.
P6T pancaking – he seems to have adopted that corner for it
Only five feeds today but they’ve all been long at around 30 minutes, except for breakfast, and the chicks were very full at the end of all of them. Only Pigeon on the menu.
Often feeds were the occasion for the chicks to practise their wing flapping, even the youngest one.
Tom with the chicks – look at these great pin feathers on wings and tail
Azina brooded the chicks for most of the morning but left them on their own a bit more this afternoon.
Azina brooding the chicks
Watch Azina go after a pigeon from the ledge. She came back empty taloned a minute later but look at that acceleration!
