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.
Two quiet days but very different. Yesterday Tom did little incubation (just under two hours). Today he did the most he’s done in a day so far this year with over five hours in two shifts. Today Azina did her longest day shift with seven hours on the trot.
About two thirds of the way through now…
I have put the #FledgeWatch notices up around the hospital this morning. P6T is in the second shot, he was preening on the left hand side corner of the ledge.
I really hope there won’t be any accident during the weekend because I have to go away. I will be keeping an eye on the cameras when I can. I have asked some friends and neighbours to keep watch and help to rescue P6T if necessary.
I will start Fledge Watch on Monday morning.
Anyone is welcome to come and help watch, keep me company or relieve me for a while. I hope he fledges on Tuesday or Wednesday but, with young Peregrines, you really can’t tell!
Indy had her accident on Day 40 (that’s Monday for P6T) but really didn’t fledge until 4 days later, Walnut fledged on Day 43 (Thursday), Jack fledged on Day 44 (Friday).
He again spent the night out on the wall, in the same spot at the night before. He hasn’t been in the box since Monday unless going after a parent. Which has given Tom the opportunity to go and do a bit of housekeeping in there. It’s needed!
I think it is fair to say that the last egg is not going to hatch now. Looking back at shots from egg-laying time I think this was egg #2 that didn’t hatch. The colour contrast between the brightly coloured freshly laid eggs and now is quite big. All this rolling on gravel does wear them out.
But we have three healthy chicks. And the little one is no push-over!
The Peregrines day started early with Tom bringing food at 4:37 a.m. Azina fed it to the chicks but I am not sure how much they could see each other at first as it looked a bit tentative.
Then at 5:47 Tom came in and had a long discussion with Azina. He really went into her face at times!
Tom fed the chicks this morning and did a very good job of it. Azina has let him be a hands-on Dad a fair bit this time. She left him in charge for nearly an hour in the morning and in the afternoon.
The oldest chick has started to do a little bit of preening.
The chicks got 6 feeds today, at 4:37, 7:04 (by Tom), 11:20, 2:41pm, 4:56pm and 7:17pm. A mix of Starling and Pigeon again.
Shots for today:
Azina laid her third egg at 5.52 this morning, with Tom in attendance. She’d just got up at 5.45 when Tom arrived in the box with food. They have a chat then she gets into position at 5.51, pushes at 5.52 and lifts up at 5.53. Effortless 🙂 Tom then leaves, leaving the food behind, and Azina settles down.
She then sat tight on the eggs for hours, not revealing all three until 9:10 a.m. The new egg is the one at the back. The first one is on the right and the second one on the left.
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:
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.
