23 Apr 23 — Day 12

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.

Azina broods the chicks, acting as an umbrella
Azina broods the chicks, acting as an umbrella

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.

Pancakes
Pancakes
https://youtu.be/aD4zQXGS6gQ

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.

Azina feeds the chicks - One chick practices wing flapping
Azina feeds the chicks – One chick practices wing flapping
https://youtu.be/-UtjKl7hm3c
https://youtu.be/eKHsYe1h_EQ

There were six feeds today and some were over thirty minutes. It was only pigeon on the menu.

Tom feeds the chicks
Tom feeds the chicks

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…)

https://youtu.be/CwMMo1Mx03E

And a bit of a funny one 😉

https://youtu.be/_7guFwnB3BQ

Shots for today:

22 Apr 23 — Day 11

Happy one week birthday to the youngest chick! And I am pleased to say that it is thriving. And is a bit of a character, definitely holding its own against its bigger siblings.
It has just started to show pin feathers on its wings. And you can clearly see the difference 3 or 4 days make when you look at the older two.

Nice pin feathers
Nice pin feathers

Tom had taken a bit of a step back yesterday. He took two steps forward today 😉 He ended up feeding the chicks twice and doing a fair bit of brooding. Azina still did the majority of it but the chicks were left on their own a bit more again today.

Azina brooding - chick preening
Azina brooding – chick preening

Pigeon and starling was on the menu today. There were six feeds.


Some people are saying that they would usually bring Parakeets. But they wouldn’t, that’s always a bit later in the season (and the Peregrines are nesting earlier than they used to). The Peregrines mostly catch the Parakeets at dawn and dusk when they go from and to their roosts. As the Parakeets are nesting at the moment they’re staying put and the opportunities are fewer for the Peregrines.

Azina feeds the chicks
Azina feeds the chicks – in a line again

To finish, this made me laugh when I saw it first. A game of ‘pass the morsel’ 😉

Shots for today:

21 Apr 23 — Day 10

The two oldest chicks are getting to the age where they can thermoregulate and so the chicks may be left on their own for longer periods from now on. Tom hasn’t tried brooding them at all today. And they were left alone for half an hour early afternoon.

Tom came in early and waited for eight minutes before Azina moved on but it doesn’t look like they did much chatting this time.

Tom standing waiting for Azina to move
Tom standing waiting for Azina to move (she did after eight minutes)

The chicks had six feeds today, some lasting quite long. On the menu only pigeon today.

The youngest chick missed out on the second feed. I guess it wasn’t hungry. It caught up at the next one and got a private feed for a while by again separating itself from its siblings. It joined them back by itself this time.

Azina feeding the chicks
Azina feeding the chicks

Tom spent a fair bit of time perched by the ledge today.

Tom by the ledge
Tom by the ledge. He’s put his tutu on 😉

Shots for today:

20 Apr 23 — Day 9

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!

Azina and the chicks - the small one at the front as usual
Azina and the chicks – the small one at the front as usual

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.

The small chick has gone wandering
The small chick has gone wandering

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.

Azina with food
Azina with food

Shots for today:

20 Apr 23 — A bit of everything

I am posting only one video today. It’s a long one but has a bit of everything: chicks on their own, Tom feeding Azina, Tom feeding the chicks under Azina, Azina feeding the chicks, Azina brooding the chicks… And the little one went on a small adventure and Azina had to bring it back into the fold…

19 Apr 23 — Day 8

Day 8
Happy 1 week birthday to the middle chick!

The oldest chick is showing pin feathers on its wings 🙂

Pin feathers on the oldest chick
Pin feathers on the oldest chick


Another good day for the chicks with plenty of food, plenty of sleep and brooding from Mum and Dad.

Family portrait
Family portrait

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.

Huddle
Huddle

Shots for today:

18 Apr 23 — Day 7

Happy 7 day birthday to the oldest chick!

Main thing today was that the fourth egg broke over night. Even though I couldn’t see what happened as it did under Azina and she had her back to the camera I can say that this egg was not viable. The chicks were covered in some residue that made them look like they’d been dipped in oil. Not their fluffy selves 🙁 Not that it seemed to bother them.

Huddle
Huddle

The rest of the day was the usual mix of sleep and feeds. There were 6 feeds today, at 7.23am, 9.12am, 11.19am, 2.35pm, 4.46pm, 6.33pm. Actually close to every two hours except for three hours once in the middle. Pigeon and Starling on the menu again.

Tom and the chicks
Tom and the chicks

Starling heads are starting to accumulate on the gravel again…

Lastly, something happened I’d seen or heard of at other sites but had never seen here: Tom feeding Azina 🙂

Tom feeds Azina
Tom feeds Azina

Shots for today:

17 Apr 23 — Day 6

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.

Tom brooding
Tom brooding

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.

Azina brings food
Azina brings food

Shots for today:

16 Apr 23 — Day I-38 / day 5

The remaining egg got in a position today that allowed me to say that the egg that hatched yesterday was the one that had been trying since Thursday. Between the moment I first saw the pipping and hatching that’s 54 hours.

All are doing well. Tom got to do a little bit of brooding and some feeding but the majority of this has been done by Azina.

The chicks got 7 feeds today! A mix of Starling and Pigeon again.

All lined up

In the following clip, Tom does his best feeding the chicks with what he’s got 🙂 The chicks were fed an hour before and were not very hungry.

The chicks’ third feed of the day. All the chicks got some food but one of them ended up with the first bulging crop I’ve seen so far!

Shots for today:

15 Apr 23 — Day I-37 / day 4

I was out for most of the day but took my tablet to do some spot checks (which turned out easier said than done, but it worked which was the main thing). Azina waited until one minute before I was due to leave to finally get up and reveal that there were still two eggs and two chicks.

Two chicks and two eggs
Two chicks and two eggs

A check early afternoon gave me a hint that there may be a third chick but I lost signal and it’s not until later in the afternoon that I was finally able to confirm it and put the word out.

If you look closely at the shot above, taken at 11am, it looks like pipping on the egg on the left.

At 11:46, Azina turns and walks on the chick that’s just hatched. It’s still curled up from being in the egg! That is quite a rough start…

The third chick has just hatched
The third chick has just hatched

An hour later Azina gives us another glimpse. The chick has dried up a little.

Glimpse of the third chick a bit fluffier
Glimpse of the third chick a bit fluffier

Then, two and a half hours after it’s hatched, we get to see a fully fluffy chick at the second feed of the day. It’s the one at the back. It doesn’t get fed then but that is not a problem, freshly hatched Peregrine chicks usually don’t eat for many hours.

First views of fluffy third chick during the second feed of the day
First views of fluffy third chick during the second feed of the day

It didn’t have to wait too long in the end as it got its first bits of food at the next feed.

The third chick gets its first food
The third chick gets its first food

By then I don’t know if this chick was the one that had been trying to hatch since Thursday…

The chicks got 4 feeds, a mix of Pigeon and Starling.

Shots for today: