This morning the Peregrines started the day under fair skies, wind from the west at 6 MPH, and the temp at 55F.  The forecast calls for sunny skies, with a high near 68. West wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 12 to 17 mph in the afternoon. Tonight, mostly cloudy during the early evening, then becoming clear, with a low around 47. West wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.

It’s often around day 30 that the chicks seem to turn into “real” peregrines almost overnight, very rapidly losing much of the down on their breast, thus revealing the heavily streaked breast feathers they will be carrying for the next year. In this photo, the larger female chick had just been flapping and the darker feather colors, on the wings, back, and tail are very visible! Feather ruffling with body and head shaking is now marked and increasing time is spent in exercise, notably walking on the feet and wing-flapping.  The young are now better able to eject their droppings out of the nest box. They present their backs to the edge of the nest box, but are careful not to fall out, and have a fairly well developed sense of the gravitational hazard…..but sometimes, it is…….look out below!

Literature cited:

Ratcliffe, D. 1993. The Peregrine Falcon. 2nd ed. Carlton, England: T. and A. D. Poyser.

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation, Peregrine Falcon Development – Age Guide; http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/info/ageguide.html

The Peregrines started the day off under continuing overcast skies, light winds, and temp at 49F.  The forecast calls for a chance of showers before 11am, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Areas of fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. South wind 3 to 7 mph. Tonight, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Areas of fog between 2am and 3am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. South wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west after midnight. 

The chicks have been lazy most of this morning and have huddled in the far left corner.  They take turns getting up, walking around a bit, preening, and then slumping back into the huddle. By day 29, the chicks often have their faces largely free of down, giving them a white-capped appearance.  On their backs, the remaining down often appears to be clumped together in certain areas, with extensive areas instead revealing the dark juvenile feathers, as you see in this photos. The wing and tail feathers are developing strongly and body feathers begin to appear in lines and patches along the back and breast.  Preening becomes a major activity.

Literature cited:

Ratcliffe, D. 1993. The Peregrine Falcon. 2nd ed. Carlton, England: T. and A. D. Poyser.

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation, Peregrine Falcon Development – Age Guide; http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/info/ageguide.html

The Peregrines started off today under overcast skies with fog and mist, wind from the N at 8MPH, and tempt at 46F. The forecast calls for patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. North wind 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable. Tonight, a chance of showers, mainly after 8pm. Patchy fog between 11pm and 1am. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low around 50. Southeast wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Had early looks at peregrine chicks just before 5:30AM this morning, and now that the webcam has been cleaned….WOW, the view is much sharper!  The chicks are now growing much larger and exercising their wing muscles. In their fourth week of life, the chicks undergo significant changes almost daily.  Around day 25, the brown tips to the secondaries become clearly visible, and the number of colored feathers visible on the breast increases noticeably.  Behaviorally, they are rarely resting on their tarsi anymore at this age.

In terms of feeding times, the pattern is irregular overall.  The young are twice as likely to be fed during the early morning and evening periods than middle of the day.  There tends to be a higher frequency of feeding visits during morning or late afternoon/early evening.  Interval times between feeding visits usually averages about 2 hours, and average duration of a meal runs about 8-11 minutes, with duration of meal time increasing a bit as the chicks get older. Here we see a late day feeding just before 7:30 PM, with sunset at 8:18 tonight.

Literature cited:

Ratcliffe, D. 1993. The Peregrine Falcon. 2nd ed. Carlton, England: T. and A. D. Poyser.

The Canadian Peregrine Foundation, Peregrine Falcon Development – Age Guide; http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/info/ageguide.html