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:
Around 4pm Tom brought in a Collared Dove. He quickly took it away since Azina wasn’t interested in grabbing it.
This is the first time I record one as prey here. I have not seen one in Fulham (or Hammersmith) yet. I suspect he may have caught it in Barnes, and even there I don’t know that they are that common.
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:
Happy 4 weeks birthday to Chick #1!
I forgot to mention yesterday that it was starting to mantle prey after grabbing it from a parent. It’s done it again twice today. 😉
It’s also been ‘weird’ and sleeping sitting up on its own on the ledge while its siblings were pancaked in the nest box. I don’t remember a chick doing that before.
It rained all night but the day was dry so they went out to exercise a few times but they spent most of their time inside.
They were fed five times, four times by Azina and once by Tom. All feeds lasted around 25 minutes and all feeds consisted of pigeon.
Chick #3 has now caught up with its siblings in size; no more tiny one in the middle. And it looks like it’s growing bigger, bigger than Chick #1 for sure. It could be all the down giving a false impression but probably not…
The chicks will be ringed on Friday morning.
Shots for today:
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!
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.
Today was Chick #3’s four weeks birthday. It tried jumping on the wall five times, without success. I’d say the situation is otherwise the same as yesterday. It is still quite lively, has been going up and down the ledge a few times, has a big appetite but doesn’t pancake or preen much. And when it pancakes it doesn’t look restful. It needs to preen to break the pins and remove the down.
Talking of removing down, there isn’t that much left now on Chick #2’s back. That chick is still looking 100% fine. It pancakes a preens a lot. And it’s very lively. Much livelier than Chick #3 but, first, it’s three days older and, second, I think it’s a male and Chick #3 a female and males tend to be a bit more tightly strung.
Big achievement for Chick #2 today with a successful jump on the wall at its first attempt. It tried where it’s marginally easier (from experience of watching the chicks through the years) but, still, it’s a great achievement.
Chick #3 also attempted to jump on the wall but failed each time. Here are four of her five attempts.
The chicks were only fed three times today, once by Tom and twice by Azina. Again it was Pigeon on the menu all the way.
Today’s shots:
