Thank you for the new view TPC.
Just when do you anticipate first flights might take place?
These little bandits are developing fast so I think they could be ready to go in a few days, but that's physically, not sure if they will be "emotionally" or "mentally" ready to take the first big step, but could be ...
Does that mean that peregrine falcons have feelings or the ability to thought process beyond what is hard wired into them?
Not being a wise acre here, I'm really interested in the concepts.
Its a good question bccs. How much they think in abstract thoughts like "its a long way down, do I really want to do this" I can't say, but I think being able to live your life in three dimensions (i.e., flying) requires some sort of abstract reasoning. Absolutely they do not reason like we do nor can we understand how they reason because we just can't think they way they do, and it would suck if we could, if we could explain it all, we would lose the wonder and mystery of flight in my opinion.
So what do I mean by "emotionally" and "mentally" - first note the quotations, I just don't have better words to describe what I'm talking about. Best I can come up with is that moment when we can see that they are not just looking out of the nestbox but rather they are looking way beyond the nestbox - like a switch has been flicked - like they suddenly understand that their world isn't the nestbox and their parents and nestmates, but that the wind should be under their wings, not blowing over them, that there are things to chase, that they can follow their parents. That is what I mean by "mentally"/"emotionally" ready to leave. What flicks that switch I have no idea, it's like how do the resident pairs know to return to within hours or days of each other at a set location thousands of kilometres from where they spend the winter separately.
Good question, not sure the answer is as good ...