The chicks are huge right now - haven't seen chicks this large in more than a decade, sure shows that Beau and Jules are not related to the rest of Manitoba's peregrines. Not a bad thing, on the contrary, perhaps good for the population if one of the kids returns somewhere. New genes and all that.
We think that they will be released mid-week but it depends on the weather somewhat. They are in a more climate-controlled location so they are in better shape than all our other chicks were at this stage. They are older than the Brandon chicks which have started to fledge, but they are bigger, so in terms of readiness to fledge, they are probably pretty close in their developmental cycle. That and there are two females here, which means they would be fledging later anyway. They've had lots of space to exercise their wings and their release location is mostly building free and there are no major roads, so getting grounded means they have lots of open areas to get back up in the air and get going again.
I plan to have my camera with me if I get out to the release so there should be photos of WW kids in the next few days.
