30 Mar 23 — More begging
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 😉
Tom begged and begged and begged…
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 first chick is two weeks old! How time flies! It, and its siblings, has had a great day of sleep and food 😉 With a little bit of preening and flapping, and some shuffling around.
It was really cold overnight and in the morning so the parents brooded the chicks continuously until lunchtime. Then they left them alone a bit.

I like the alternate positions in the above shot. They do that a lot.
There were seven feeds today. There could have been eight but the chicks were still so stuffed from their previous meal that they didn’t even get up 😉 Starling and pigeon on the menu once again. Tom fed one of the Starling heads to the chicks, so at least that’s one less of them 😂
In brief, it’s all good 🙂

It took Tom a lot of dancing around before Azina accepted his food offering in the clip below.
Tom got to feed a chick under Azina once again today 😉
Shots for today:
Look at the size of crops on some of the shots!
No big outing today. Chick #2 went out for five minutes on its own and Chick #3 was back in as soon as it was out.

The chicks got to taste Parakeet for the first time this evening and they’d also had Starling on top of the usual Pigeon so a bit more variety on the menu today. Azina must have caught that Parakeet as it looked quite fresh and Tom had been sitting on or by the ledge for over an hour when she arrived with it.

There were only five feeds today but the chicks were very full at the end of each of them.
Chick #2 is getting a bit even more steady on its feet and Chick #3 is making more effort. Chick #1 has reached the pincushion back stage, making it quite easy to recognise it from its siblings today.

When it was sitting next to Chick #3 on the porch at one point the difference 4 days make was quite striking when looking at the cheek patch and around the eye.

Chick #3 cast a pellet on the back of Chick #2 this morning.
Shots for today:
Chick #3 is making attempts at standing up. Chick #1 is almost a pro at it. Chick #2 doesn’t seem in too much of a hurry.

Again they’ve spent most of the day sleeping. On their own. Azina paid them a few visits but was more a disturbance than anything, unless she brought food 😉

Food was again just pigeon and there were 6 feeds, by both Azina and Tom.

Feathers are starting to break and this is now the best way to distinguish between the three chicks.

Shots for today: