Pchemist our westcoaster and thread-starter does it again ...
Just a note carried over from yesterday's posts ... the "loner" doesn't appear to always be the same bird. Usually the two boys hang out together at some point during the day (at least) and usually come back to each other first before the female joins them for their night-time chickpile. The males are much easier to spot since the banding ... their flight feathers are really showing when you look at their backs - edges of their wings make a kind of "W" across their back and then the tail feathers underline the "W". If you can't visualize it, just watch for when the chicks have their backs full-on to the camera tomorrow - sitting up at this point is really the only way to see it at present. They all have grey spots on their heads now where the flight feathers on the top of their heads are just starting to show through so that's not the best way to tell who's who.
As the chicks get closer to fledging, I am going to try to determine differences in their head plumage patterns and hopefully get photos to make it easier for anyone on fledge watch with us in a couple weeks ...
