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!
Today was Chick #2′ 3 weeks birthday and to celebrate they all went out! 😉

The big excursion started while Tom was doing a feed and it was Chick #2 who went out first. Chick #1 followed three minutes later and Chick #3 22 minutes later, after Tom had gone. Chick #2 was out for well over an hour and Chick #3 for nearly an hour, but a lot of that time was spent huddled in the ‘hidden’ corner. Chick #1 came back in after half an hour and enjoyed some pancake me time in the box 😉

There was a clear difference in aptitude between the three. Chick #1 was standing and running around while flapping. Chick #2 could stand a bit and do a few steps. Chick #3 was mostly bum shuffling but was also trying to stand a bit. I’d say however that there seems to be more difference between 1 and 2 than between 2 and 3 even though they’re much closer in age.

The rest of the day was spent mostly sleeping as usual though there were bursts of activity from time to time, with plenty of flapping and playing with food.

There were six feeds and again it was only pigeon on the menu. Tom did two of the feeds, Azina the other four.
Funniest moment today was when Azina was doing one of her morning visits to the nest box, rooting around for bits and bobs as she does. She stepped on one the chicks’ tail and the poor chick ended up in total blind panic, hyperventilating!
A clip from yesterday with Tom and Azina preening by the nest ledge.
Shots for today:
Azina was eager for the food Tom brought her this evening. She really rushed towards Tom!A few intruders again today (one seemed to be a juvenile but it was from quite a distance) but that didn’t disturb Tom and Azina’s incubation routine much.
One clip where Tom has to do a lot of begging.
And a few shots from today.
A few shots from today.
There was an intruder near 3pm, a female I presume as Azina shot out of the box and used the hospital to gain height quickly to chase it over the cemetery. Tom was around and immediately went to incubate. Azina relieved him 10 minutes later.
Apart from this it was a quiet day. Azina ended up doing 14hr22m on the trot overnight. Tom had an easy day today, with only 2hr28m.
Today was a light day for Tom incubation wise but it was not for lack of trying! This was his last try for the day, around 7pm, but Azina didn’t want to budge 😉
I’ll start with a very short funny clip 😉
Another good day. Azina did a fair bit of brooding again in the morning but left them on their own a bit more in the afternoon.

All three chicks can now be quite active at times. The oldest chick has been trying to stand a few times.
Interestingly they seem to take turns at feeds. Rather than compete, one will feed while the others either rest or flap or wander.
There were seven feeds today, one by Tom. Pigeon was on the menu for almost all of them. For a change, Collared Dove was also on the menu, only the second time I see the pair bring one.
Shots for today:
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.

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.

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.
Today’s shots: