Well I am curious if TPC discovered yet if Trey and Princess had been digging at the bars on the chicks nest box? She mentioned she would be checking that out.
Didn't make it to the Radisson today, too (way too) much wind - 60 km/h with gusts to 80+. You have to at least double that on the roof of the Hotel. Will try Sunday or Monday.
I also wonder what that means if they have been. Territorial thing? Or they are trying to get inside the box?
Could be territorial, could be housekeeping, could be boredom or even curiousity. And yes, the birds can be very curious. I watched a captive-bred fledgling chick play with a pebble for about four hours before actually taking her (I think) first flight! It was hilarious, she'd pick it up with one foot, hop and toss it into the air then chase after it. And yes, I'm sure it was the same darn pebble/rock. Even when her three hack-mates had flown, she continued to "play" on her own. Can't say if it was just more interesting or she need to work off some of her anxiety (if they have it) before following her hack-sibs.
I seen the pictures but I don't think I really understood how that box worked. The chicks were inside the box. The adults were supposed to come and feed them through the bars? The bars were so the chicks would not fall out? What about to protect them from a predator as well, while they were unattended and not adopted by the adults? I think you already said that it was not to protect them from the adults as they would not have been harmed by any peregrines?
Pretty much all of that DeeDream. Without the parents there to protect them from whatever, I wasn't comfortable leaving them on their own, even when I was elsewhere in/on the Hotel, so the bars were to prevent the chicks from coming to harm but still allowing the adults access to them. And yes, the adults would have fed them through the bars - they are easily wide enough for the adults to reach through, but not wide enough for the still uncoordinated chicks to move between. The chicks were in the "inside" part of the box, that is the part of the box that can be access from the roof and where there is cover overhead. The "outside" part of the box is on the ledge that runs around the ledge on the outside of the Hotel's roof wall. The box also extends out off the edge of the ledge, basically in mid-air and about 25 stories above the building below and 30 stories above street level - so a big drop. And while we don't really have too much to worry about predators, I wasn't taking that chance. Nor was I taking a chance that the chicks would over-react if/when the parents came to visit - didn't want the chicks' excitement/defensive responses to perhaps cause and unintentional injury to them or to Trey and/or Princess. So bars. And its not a new idea, we use bars like this when we hack release (releases with out adult birds/not from active nests) and we and many other projects have recorded adult birds pushing food through to the chicks inside.
Does that help?
