The chicks are now approaching two weeks of age and growing bigger each day with nonstop appetites and feedings!

A mid morning visit to nest box by female with prey in hand….she is ripping apart freshly caught prey and feeding to ever hungry chicks!

By day 11, the beak is already beginning to acquire a slightly yellow tinge, as opposed to the pink color it has had to this point in the chick’s development.

The group on average is now about 9 days old and going strong!  This is a late afternoon photo with late day light streaming into the nest box.  The female is watching over her brood and they remain in a tight huddle formation!

The chicks have grown visibly over last 9 days but remained covered in white down with pink patches of skin still showing through in some areas.

At one week of age, the chicks have already grown considerably relative to the size of the eggs they emerged from.  They are covered with fine white down, and in some places the pink skin still shows through. 

The nestlings are now one week old and have grown considerably.  You’ll notice the nestbox are beginning to get “decorated” with whitewash–falcon poo, that is. When they have “to go,” the chicks project their feces up and out away from the gravel lined nest to help keep the immediate nest area clean. During this process anything in the way gets coated. It’s not so bad right now that they are still small, but as they grow they will inevitably make a mess in the nest box.

Many have  asked how many feeding trips are made each day. We’ve never actually counted but would guess at least 6-8. I usually notice 2-3 during the first half of the day. Double that for the second half of the day and then figure in a couple more and there’s the basis for my estimate. I’m sure some of the diehard watchers out there could say for certain!

The actual number of trips will vary depending on the size of the prey items the adults bring in. Since the male is smaller, he likely concentrates on hunting smaller songbird-size prey while the larger female can take birds with more bulk to them. Oftentimes, the male will cache food as well, so if he isn’t successful hunting he can always fall back on his reserve supply.

As the nestlings grow, so will their requirements for food! The adults will be very busy for the next several weeks with four chicks to feed.

The chicks are growing in size with boundless appetites!  They are now more erect at feeding time and ready to gobble each meal brought in by the female.  This is an evening feeding, about 90 minutes before sunset and now we can see their wings, used to help with balance, while they feed.

Here the female is keeping an eye on her growing brood in the nest box.  In these early days, the chicks are fed and then given plenty of time to rest.  Many thanks to the New Balance team for providing this close up access to the Lawrence Peregrines!

The chicks are eating many times each day and are growing.  In between meals they tend to huddle close to one another for warmth.  They always respond when the female brings food.

In this moment, they had been in tight huddle, the female arrived with a big breakfast. They eagerly stretched out their necks, packed away the meal and went back to the tight huddle!  The female makes sure the food is distributed fairly and tenderly.

The adults begin feeding the chicks shortly after that have hatched.  At this sage, their eyes remain closed, but the chicks already have the instinct to crane their necks upward for food! Most of the brooding and feeding of small young is carried out by the female, while the male hunts to supply the food. After the first couple of weeks, the female shares the hunting.