It is getting difficult to distinguish between chicks #1 and #2.
Chick #2 has started standing up today but not much. Chick #1 has got better.
Most of the day has been spent sleeping, as usual. No brooding at all today except for 30 seconds. Azina spent some time in the box overnight but didn’t brood them.
There were six feeds today, of varying lengths, but no varying menu. It was pigeon all the time.
Shots for today:
Azina was eager for the food Tom brought her this evening. She really rushed towards Tom!
And a few shots from today. I think there were a few intruders today but I only managed to confirm this once when I saw Tom chasing the bird over the hospital. Very aggressively too. Apart from that the pair have settled into incubation routine.
P6T spent the whole night on the wall. And, apart from 3 1/2 hours where he pancaked on the ledge and 15 minutes for a feed, he spent the whole day on the wall too. Minus a few minutes here and there where he went on the floor.
He’s sat, preened, flapped, walked, run, eaten… The only thing he hasn’t done is pancaking, maybe it doesn’t feel safe enough yet.
Nothing more to report. He’s still looking very bright. And to be honest the more he is on the wall the happiest I am as it’s away from possible contamination on the ledge.
Wildlife Aid have published a story on Chick #3 with photos of what made her ill.
Today’s shots:
Azina laid her fourth egg this evening.
She got up at 6.47 p.m. At 6.49, you can clearly see three eggs. At 6.50 she turns round and starts pushing at 6.52, laying the egg at 6.53. At 6.55 she turns and settles, showing all four eggs in the process as she gathers them together. Easy peasy!
And here are a few shots from today.
The chicks have been in and out of the box a lot today but did all their sleeping inside. Chick #1 has slept most of the day sitting up while the others were pancaked.
There were 5 feeds and all of them were pigeon. Tom did one of them and Azina the others. He would have done an other but the chicks were still full from their previous one.
Two short clips with Chicks #1 and 2 flapping:
There was a feed Live on facebook which you can watch using this link.
Shots for today:
Happy 4 weeks birthday to Chick #1!
I forgot to mention yesterday that it was starting to mantle prey after grabbing it from a parent. It’s done it again twice today. 😉
It’s also been ‘weird’ and sleeping sitting up on its own on the ledge while its siblings were pancaked in the nest box. I don’t remember a chick doing that before.
It rained all night but the day was dry so they went out to exercise a few times but they spent most of their time inside.
They were fed five times, four times by Azina and once by Tom. All feeds lasted around 25 minutes and all feeds consisted of pigeon.
Chick #3 has now caught up with its siblings in size; no more tiny one in the middle. And it looks like it’s growing bigger, bigger than Chick #1 for sure. It could be all the down giving a false impression but probably not…
The chicks will be ringed on Friday morning.
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:
