6 Mar 23 — Mating on the ledge
Tom and Azina mating on the ledge this morning. A different view, from the fixed camera. Azina instigated that one, but it took Tom some time to get the message.
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:
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 😉
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.
Day 8
Happy 1 week birthday to the middle chick!
The oldest chick is showing pin feathers on its wings 🙂
Another good day for the chicks with plenty of food, plenty of sleep and brooding from Mum and Dad.
Tom paid a brief visit at 2 am! And then a longer one at 5.08 where he had another one of those long chats with Azina. These two are just so sweet!
There have been seven feeds today, at 5.27am, 7.20am (Tom), 10.51am, 1.09pm, 4.30pm, 6.12pm and 7.32pm (short, chicks were still full).
Tom got to feed the chicks this morning.
Shots for today:
Rainy day… And we got a repeat of Wednesday with few exchanges and long shifts with Azina doing one of six hours and Tom over three hours so he was back to over five hours in total. No sign of intruders 🙂
Chick #2 is still full of energy and has been exploring the ledge multiple times today. It is turning into a beautiful dark Peregrine as revealed in the last couple of days with a lot of down falling off. Soon it’ll be just those fluffy pantaloons left!
Chick #3 on the other hand is still causing me some concern. I go back and forth on it as on one hand it is spending a fair bit of time sleeping sitting up like Chick #1 used to do. But on the other one it is still showing big bursts of energy, bouncing and flapping. And a big appetite. I am crossing everything.
Azina finally brought some Parakeet at the end of today. A break from that endless Pigeon diet. She fed it to them in two feeds. The two previous feeds were more Pigeon.
Tom moved the body of Chick #1 by the entrance of the nest box. He was trying to haul it inside, presumably to feed it to the chicks, but it was proving too heavy for him. Later, he started plucking it but gave up very quickly. So it’s now in an awkward spot for the chicks going in and out of the box.
Not many shots again today. I love that first shot of Chick #2 and its reflection in the water!