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:
Today was Chick #3’s three weeks birthday and it’s doing very well. It was steadier on its feet than yesterday.
The chicks went out early in the morning, at the end of a feed by Tom.
They all settled to sleep in the ‘hidden corner’ and stayed there for two hours until the rain started getting heavier, at which point they all went back to the nest box. Chick #1 was the first one to get back in, it usually is. And they stayed there pretty much all day, apart for a short outing around 4pm.
Chick #2 was well improved since yesterday in standing and walking.
They got six feeds today, two by Tom and four by Azina. Pigeon and Starling was on the menu.
It rained for many hours and Azina got rather wet perched by the ledge. Tom landed on the perch a couple of minutes after she left and was totally dry. As we know he doesn’t like the rain and getting wet so I suspect he’d been hiding in one of his rain corners (on the railing on the 12th floor at the junction of North and West Wings usually).
Shots for today:
The two eggs finally revealed at 6.05 pm when Tom brought Azina her dinner. Tom then covered them again until her return 14 minutes later.
Today is Chick #1’s 3 weeks birthday and to celebrate it went on a little trip. That’s one day earlier than Indy last year and three days earlier than Walnut in 2021.
Tom and Azina spent a lot of time perched by the side of the ledge today, either separately or together. In the morning Azina spent a lot of time disturbing the chicks’ sleep by pottering in the nest box for nothing in particular.
Again the chicks were fed to the brim an endless supply of pigeons. The last meal lasted 40 minutes with the first 10 minutes done by Tom. They fell in a food coma immediately.
As you can see on its excursion clip Chick #1 is now very steady on its feet and will now stand during feeds. Chick #2 is still quite reluctant.
Short clip of the chicks playing.
Shots for today:
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:
I have some bad news. Last night Chick #1 started taking a turn for the worse. It wasn’t any better this morning. We put plans in place to have it picked up and checked at ringing tomorrow morning. But sadly it died at 1pm today.
Fly free little one!
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:
