30 Mar 23 — Day I-21
Something worked up the pair around 1pm today but I couldn’t see what it was… (first five shots)
And a few more shots from today.
Something worked up the pair around 1pm today but I couldn’t see what it was… (first five shots)
And a few more shots from today.
The second egg laying video. Azina got up from the egg at 4.35, got into position at 4.38, pushes at 4.40/4.41 and at 4.42 she lifts up to let the egg to dry off. At 4.46 she turns a bit and starts settling down.
This makes it 60 hours and 10 minutes between the first two eggs.
It’s all going well. The chicks are getting plenty of food. And I know some of you are concerned about the smallest chick. Don’t worry! It’s getting plenty of food, just as much as its siblings. If you’ve watched the second Live on Facebook you’ll have seen all three of them full to bursting after what was their eighth feed of the day!

But I think this chick is going to be trouble. It wandered away during one of the feeds and Azina had to grab it to bring it back with the others.

They managed to surprise me with another first: Tom feeding the chicks while they were under Azina. Very interesting interactions this year.
As mentioned above, the chicks had eight feeds today. Again it was a mix of starling and pigeon.

Shots for today:
The chicks ended spending a fair bit of time on the ledge this afternoon and had two meals back to back out of the box. Tom had fed them for about 20 minutes. Less than 10 minutes later Azina arrived with more food. At first the chicks didn’t seem interested but one by one got more food and that feed lasted 40 minutes!
If you’re on facebook that double feed was during a long Live session.

There was variety on the menu again today with pigeon, starling and blackbird. Tom fed the chicks three times and Azina three times too. Very well fed kids!

Chick #1’s back is looking even more like a pincushion and Chick #2’s back has started. It’s somehow clearer in the night mode shots.

Chick #3 is still making real efforts to stand up and Chick #2 is getting better at it.

Shots for today:
A day of rain and sunshine. At the end of the day Azina had to act as an umbrella as a heavy shower battered the nest box.
But the chicks were left on their own for even longer periods today. I was showing the Peregrines to people this lunchtime and Azina was perched on top of one of the blue cranes. From there she’d have a great view of the chicks in the box. And Tom was by the ledge. So the chicks were not really alone.
They continue to develop nicely. The two oldest ones are now doing a bit more wing flapping (even if they often end up with their face in the gravel) and even did some while holding food. And they’re starting to move around a bit. You can see a shadow of the cheek feathers starting to come up too.
There were six feeds today and some were over thirty minutes. It was only pigeon on the menu.
Watch the small chick steal a big piece of food from one of its siblings’ mouth! No push over that chick! I want that piece and I will have it! 🤣 (and it dropped it in the end…)
And a bit of a funny one 😉
Shots for today:
We are around three quarter of the way there now.
Not much to report, it’s been fairly routine. Except for one intruder I witnessed on Saturday evening but who was very quickly seen off by Azina. No messing about.
Not so many shots today as the chicks spent a lot of their time sleeping on the ledge in a spot hidden on both cameras.
Chick #2 has discovered its wings 🙂

Chick #3 is now quite steady on its feet.

Chick #1 spent time sleeping sitting up.

There were only four feeds, the first one not being before 8am (it’s usually around 6am) but the last one was a double feed lasting nearly one hour. Starling and Pigeon on the menu again today.
Shots for today: