The peregrine chicks have been showing of their newly discovered wings at Cann Quarry.

"Look At My Beautiful WIngs!"

At 7 weeks old and with only a week and a half’s flying practice under their belts, they are already showing themselves to be accomplished fliers. Landing on the other hand is not so easy! The juveniles have been learning the hard way that some branches are too small for a peregrine to land on, braking is necessary before landing and it can take several attempts to land on a small ledge on the quarry face. So our young peregrines have a lot to learn before they can fly and hunt with the same grace and elegance as mum and dad. In the meantime, we are lucky enough to watch as the young find their wings and test their abilities.

Catch Me If You Can

Peregrines are, however, very fast learners so it won’t be long before the juveniles are able to fend for themselves.

We are still seeing the kestrel parents going in and out of their nest site. We are expecting to see chicks any day now. Stay posted for news!

Thanks again to Steve Waterhouse for the beautiful photos.

W7's First Flight. (Clive Davies)

The male was the first to go, taking his first flight on Saturday afternoon. He took off from the nest and went upwards to the rock face above. After an unelegant landing in a patch of brambles he managed to untangle himself and jumped up to sit atop of the rock face. Mum and dad both came over when he left the nest so we had lovely views of the whole family enjoying the moment.

Juvenile Male Freshly Fledged (Steve Waterhouse)

His sister, however, was a little more reluctant to leave the comfort of the nest. She stayed and continued to be fed by the parents. We were worried that she would eat too much and not be able to take off! But she eventually made the jump on Monday.

Both juveniles have been stretching their wings around the quarry and practising landing. The male seems to have taken up residence above the nest, where he first flew to and the parents are bringing prey to him here, providing lovely views for us. The young female appears to be happier up in the trees for now, from where she can be heard screaming to mum and dad for the next meal!

Thanks to Clive Davies and Steve Waterhouse for capturing the young male’s first moments out of the nest.

Another young peregrine came to the quarry yesterday afternoon to show our two chicks how it’s done. The youngster made its entrance by dive bombing the nest, surprising the chicks and their mum. It then settled on a perch no more than 3 metres above the nest for over an hour! During this time the adult female started off sitting above the nest, keeping a look out, but then went on to feed the chicks as if all was well. The chicks were then left alone on the nest with this other peregrine perched above. They stared up at it as if to say “Who are you?”. After resting and preening on its newly found perch, the intruder flew to the other side of the quarry. Surprisingly, it was only then that the female shot out of the trees and straight towards the other bird. The young bird tumbled out of the sky and we thought that would be the last we saw of it. But this young peregrine had some guts, as it once again took to the sky and actually chased our female! Before it left, the stranger treated us, and the bemused chicks, to a soaring flight above the quarry and the viaduct, eventually disappearing behind the trees.

 We could tell that the intruder was a young bird (probably a year old) because it still had brown plumage and brown streaks on its front rather than the black barring of the adults. Could this strange bird be one of the chicks from last year? Unfortunately, it is impossible to know. However, if the chicks from this year were to pay their parents a visit next year we would be able to identify them because they have been ringed.

The behaviour of the adult female peregrine in this instance was very strange. Usually she would not tolerate another peregrine in her territory, let alone so close to her chicks in the nest! We have seen her chase off other juveniles earlier in the season. Perhaps she felt that this young bird posed no threat. It just goes to show that however much we think we know about peregrines, they still manage to keep us guessing… Just like those chicks: “to fledge or not to fledge?”

Waiting for Fledging Day

Thursday 10th June 2010

We are playing a guessing game at the viaduct at the moment to predict when the chicks will fledge. They will be six weeks old this weekend, and that means it’s time for them to venture out of the nest. But do they know this…? The chicks have been seen exercising their wings and balancing on the edge of the nest, having a good look at what’s below. But they’ve also been doing a lot of snoozing and feeding. The parents are still regularly bringing prey to the nest and feeding the chicks. The chicks are grown up enough to feed themselves, and have been seen doing so, but still they beg for mum and dad to feed them! The parents will stop bringing food to the nest when they know the chicks are ready and will try and tempt them out by bringing in prey to other parts of the quarry.

"Please feed me!"

 So for now we have to wait, safe in the knowledge that the chicks will only venture out into the rest of the quarry when they are ready, and not a moment before!

 

'W7' shows off his yellow bracelet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile in the quarry, we were very worried for the kestrels after a squirrel was seen going into the nest site on Tuesday. Squirrels are thought to be responsible for killing kestrel chicks in previous years, so we were all very concerned for their well being. Yesterday, however, both adults visited the nest and the calls of chicks could be heard loud and clear from within! Phew!

Thanks go to Steve Waterhouse for the beautiful photos of our juvenile peregrines.

Check out more of Steve’s shots on http://www.flickr.com/photos/10109159@N07/

In just a couple of days the peregrine chicks have lost almost all of their down and now have beautifully sleek brown backs and flecked fronts. Their fluffy ‘baggy trousers’ still remain for now though to remind us they’re not quite ready to go yet. Lots more wing stretching and waddling around the nest has been taking place in the past few days. This working out is not just for fun but helps the chicks to build up their muscles so when they do take a leap of faith from the nest their wings will be ready for flying.

Much to the female’s dismay, the buzzard returned to the quarry on Saturday morning. It sat in a tree about 30 feet away from the nest, but was eventually turfed out by the female peregrine repeatedly diving towards it.

There has been talk at the viaduct that the male peregrine can be a little lazy as he can spend several hours perched on the quarry face seemingly doing nothing. But, the male will be very pleased to know that his reputation will not be tarnished any longer. Initial analysis of the feeding data from March and April shows that the male in fact brought in more prey than the female during this time. The male brought in 60% of all the prey that the watchers saw the birds bringing into the quarry. And on several occasions he would give the prey to the female without having any for himself! During this period the peregrines were mating, nesting and incubating their eggs. Has the male’s role as main provider changed since the chicks have been in the nest? You will have to wait for the next lot of data to find out!

A sunny evening up on the viaduct, most people have gone home for the day and the peregrine watchers are enjoying listening to the evening birdsong. Then, out of nowhere, a huge bird lands on the peregrines’ nest! The falcon kicks off, screaming and squawking, as the chicks look on in bewilderment. The intruder is chased from the nest and disappears into the trees. The falcon is unsettled, the chicks are confused. What was that bird and what was it doing here….? Was it an eagle?? Was it a kite??

Well, with further thought and examination of a lucky photograph it was decided that it was a cheeky buzzard. Buzzards are big raptors, much bigger than a peregrine and they are oportunists. The visitor may have been after the chicks, looking to steal some prey from the peregrines or just really nosey! Whatever it was doing there, it has probably learnt that peregrines are not to be messed with and won’t be back in a hurry.

Meanwhile, admist all the excitement, the chicks are still doing well. They are now growing their juvenile plumage and look like a patchwork of different feathers. They are learning to feed themselves and stretch and flap their wings. The female seems to be the more adventurous of the two and has had us holding our breath on many occassions as she tetters on the edge of the nest, having a good look at what is going on below. The chicks will be 5 weeks old this weekend. Not long to go now before they start to explore the world outside of their nest. It amazing how they have grown and developed in such a short space of time. Come to the viaduct over the next week or so for your last chance to see the chicks in the nest.

The chicks have had a hot few days on their nest. Now they are bigger, the parents have been leaving them alone on the nest for a lot longer. The female spent most of Sunday morning out and about enjoying the sunny weather. She could be seen soaring above the viaduct, overseeing her territory and seeing off any intruders including another female peregrine and a buzzard. The male joined her occasionally, but otherwise he was sat chilling out in the shade. The hot chicks were glad in the afternoon when mum came to sit on the nest and offered some welcome shade by fanning out her wings.

The chicks should be in their nest for another 3 to 4 weeks, by which time they will be almost adult size and have lost their fluffy down and have grown most of their brown juvenile plumage.

The chicks are fattening up nicely. A good sign that the parents are doing their job in providing food for the youngsters. The female chick is already a bit bigger than her brother, but this is nothing to worry about - male peregrines are a third smaller than the females, so yes she is being greedy and probably getting a bit more food than her bro, but she has more growing to do than him!

There are rumours flying at the viaduct that the male peregrine has been a little bit lazy and there are suggestions that he is not pulling his weight. On Sunday he was perched on the quarry face having a good snooze…for 3 hours! Well, it was raining, perhaps we could let him off for that one. Then again this afternoon he was perched having a snooze. However, this was not a peaceful scence as the female was shouting from the tree tops (literally!) to order him, we assume, out to get some food. And did he listen? Not at all! After some time the female eventually gave up and flew off to get her own meal. So, is our male really that lazy or is he being ‘hen-pecked’ by his Mrs undeservedly?  Should we feel sorry for the male peregrine? Well, he has been recorded bringing food in 5 times in one morning before now and more often than not he will drop the prey at the nest for his female and chicks without feeding himself first. So he also shows signs of being a really good dad. We will be watching the dynamics of the peregrines relationship of the next few months and no doubt the debate will continue!

The chicks were ringed on Saturday. Dale Jackson, a trained ringer, licensed by the British Trust of Ornithology, abseiled down to the nest and put small, lightweight rings on the chicks’ legs. The female peregrine was in a tree at the time and the male nowhere to be seen. The female showed some concern when the ringer approached the nest but had been more bothered by another peregrine entering her territory earlier in the day. The whole process was very quick and painless for the chicks and lasted no more than 10 minutes. The female peregrine was back on the nest within 20 minutes of Dale

 leaving and has since shown normal behaviour - feeding the chicks regulary and leaving them alone on the nest for short periods of time. She probably wondered what on earth was going on but has not been affected by the disturbance.

Dale reported that both chicks were doing well and was able to tell us that we have one female and one male chick. The female is already the larger of the two.

To find out more about ringing visit the BTO website http://www.bto.org/ringing/index.htm

Photos kindly supplied by Steve Waterhouse.