16 May 23 — Lucky escape!
Dramatic scene at the hospital this morning! If you look very closely the pigeon gets away from Tom and will have learned not to play with fire hopefully!
Similar Posts
11 May 23 — Day 30
It has been a tough day. It all started last night after I posted the daily update and I checked the cameras. I noticed that Chick #1 had either been crying since the last feed or had trouble breathing. When I checked this morning, it wasn’t any better. We made plans to pick it up tomorrow at ringing if it wasn’t improved and have it checked up at Wildlife Aid.
Throughout the morning it seemed to perk up from time to time and ventured outside a couple of times. At one point it lost its balance and fell on the ledge floor but picked itself up again. It pancaked with Chick #3 in the box for a while. Then around 12:30 it got up, went out of the box, to the hidden corner for a while. At 12:55 it came back to the wall in front of the box, collapsed and drew its last breath.From the start last night I suspected it may be frounce/trichomoniasis. From a clip I sent Sean confirmed that it is the most likely cause. But, obviously, without checking the bird physically, we cannot be 100% sure. It is not avian flu. It will have come from one of the pigeons they ate. With hindsight, what I called being weird a few days ago, that it pretty much stopped pancaking and was spending its time sleeping standing up, was probably due to the illness. So it’s been going on for a few days. I didn’t say anything yesterday, in part because Chick #2 had stolen the show, but I had noticed that it seemed a bit lethargic. And thinking back on it, I don’t think it had done much flapping.
Now the sad thing is that it has felt like Chick #3 has been a bit off today, and has been sleeping sitting up a bit. But at other times it seems to perk up, and to pancake. Hopefully it is me being paranoid. Chick #3 is also the one that seems to be missing Chick #1 the most. It’s sat by or pancaked on it a few times. The rest of the family have completely ignored it.
The good news is that Chick #2 on the other hand has been very perky. It’s been up and down the ledge a few times, enjoyed a few paddles and did a lot of flapping.
There were just three feeds today, two by Azina, one by Tom. Again only pigeon on the menu.
Ringing tomorrow has been postponed until Monday.
A reduced album tonight:
The whole family 24 Apr 23 — Day 13
Quite different to yesterday. Colder and wetter so Azina has brooded the chicks for most of the day and when she wasn’t then Tom did it. Though he’s struggling a fair bit to fit them all, and so is Azina to be fair 😉
Azina brooding the chicks
Which means that pretty much the only times they could flap their wings were during feeds and they did that a lot.
Tom feeding the chicks – Feeds often time to do some flapping
There were 6 feeds today, one by Tom. Mostly pigeon on the menu with a bit of Starling.
One thing I noticed today and that’s thanks to the 4 day gap between the chicks. When they hatch their feet are pink. When they fledge they’re pale yellow. On the shots where you can see that the feet of the older ones have started to turn yellow when they’re next those of the younger one. Because it’s a very subtle change I’d never noticed that before, and also because we’ve not had such big gaps before (especially with single chicks! 😉 )
Tom feeding the chicks Shots for today:
15 Mar 23 — Day I-6
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 😉
And a few shots from today.
26 Mar 23 — Days I-15 to I-17
We have now reached the half way point 🙂
Here are a few shots from the last three days including some of the quite dramatic skies we had on Friday when it was clear and sunny over the hospital but very dark and raining just North (I even heard some thunder over Kensington at that time). And two shots of the boat races as they pass Hammersmith Bridge as viewed from the Peregrine nest ledge.
Tom has been doing shorter days of incubation, a mixture again of him not turning up and Azina refusing him. She ended up doing a shift of around 20 hours overnight as she’d started it early afternoon and Tom didn’t relieve her until almost 11 this morning.Fledge Watch
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.
P6T observing the world around 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!
10 May 23 — Day 29
I was starting to think that it was all about Chicks #1 and #3 the last few days but today Chick #2 stole the show by being the first one to go explore the paddling pool. On its four weeks birthday too 🙂
Chick #2 One of my favourite moments when the chicks discover the pool. It didn’t go as far as having a bath but it seemed to be enjoying itself. Check the clip if you haven’t already.
The rest of the day is about the same as the last few. Sleep, eat, flap, preen, sleep, flap, sleep, eat… 😉
Chick #2 There were four feeds, all given by Azina, all of pigeon.
Azina feeding the chicks
There was very heavy rain around 6pm. The shot below is of the three chicks huddled close together in the corner. It must have been scary with the noise on the roof of the box…
Huddling together as hail starts falling on the nest box About half an hour before that I heard Tom alarm calling. I checked at my window and saw him rushing to gain height over my street. I went out and by then he’d gone beyond the cemetery and was over Kensington dive bombing a Buzzard.
A funny clip to finish:
Shots for today:
