Radisson - 2013 / Ivy & Princess

[Moonstar]

There they are peeping over the ledge.  I can't believe how much they have grown.  I have not seen them since last Thursday. 

[RCF]

Everyone trying to stay cool!

[msdolittle]

I guess we knew it was going to happen.  Next the little buggers will be sitting on the ledge.

[RCF]

Looks like one of the chicks, by the looks of it the male, has found that the drain cover is a good place to perch and preen.  

Getting down to take a nap ~ http://youtu.be/L1D3gKXx-XI

[susha]

Another hot and sunny day.  Just watched a parent feeding RG (Radisson girl ) who is proving to be chip off the old block - pushy and greedy with her mom/dad (couldn't tell).  RB ( ) just stayed in the shade, away from the fray...

Parent is now sitting against the wall, available for shading duties if required...

[The Peregrine Chick]

Weather for today/tonight ...

Day - Partly cloudy in the morning, then overcast. High of 26C. Winds from the NNW at 10 to 15 km/h.
Night - Overcast in the evening, then clear. Low of 12C. Winds from the North at 10 to 15 km/h.

[newchick]

Stormy, they are playing "Where's Waldo".  They are hard to spot in the corner of the building in amoungst all the "poop" art, or white puddle.  But, they are there if you look close. 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Looking at feather development, it looks to me like we do in fact have 1 male and 1 female chick.

Not quite sure what you mean by this, TPC. Does one gender's feathers develop faster or differently than the other?

Male chicks are smaller so their feathers develop and grow in faster.  When you have female and male chicks in the same nest, the flight feathers on the males will grow through the white downy feathers faster.  If you look at the two Radisson chicks, one chick has more flight feathers showing, the other more white down still visible.  Usually by this age, it's a pretty good indication of their gender but without actually having them in my hands, its just what it looks like from a distance.

[Kinderchick]

Looking at feather development, it looks to me like we do in fact have 1 male and 1 female chick.

Not quite sure what you mean by this, TPC. Does one gender's feathers develop faster or differently than the other?

[The Peregrine Chick]

Looking at feather development, it looks to me like we do in fact have 1 male and 1 female chick.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Chronology for this morning ...

• 0135h - meal delivery by Princess
• 0136h - hasty departure by Princess, suspect chicks were hungry
• 0451h - Princess returns to sit on ledge edge- chicks don't even bother to get up
• 0513h - chicks check out remains of 0135h meal delivery
• 0516h - Princess departs
• chicks are exploring, running, wingercizing and preening
• 0611h - Ivy arrives with a meal, chicks steal, he follows and proceeds to feed them
• 0626h - Ivy departs
• 0641h - Princess returns to ledge edge
• 0652h - no action on the ledge and Princess leaves again
• 0708h - both chicks napping with a quick relocation to nap together after a couple of hours

Weather forecast for today & tonight ...

Day - Overcast with a chance of rain in the morning, then mostly cloudy. Fog early. High of 24C. Winds from the NNW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 40%.
Night - Partly cloudy. Low of 13C. Winds from the North at 10 to 15 km/h.

[The Peregrine Chick]

There certainly seems to be quite a few unbanded peregrines around, at least from some of the web cams I have been watching. So banded or unbanded they seem to be doing well.   

One of the advantages of having banded birds is that you can more easily notice if you may need to worry about genetic bottlenecks - for example, if all the peregrines in Manitoba this year were all Radisson (or Brandon) offspring, then the Manitoba population could be facing serious problems.  It would be more of a concern perhaps if it were earlier in the program and there were fewer birds out there.  After 30 years there are probably enough birds around that the anatum population in Canada and the US are fine and will be fine.  By trying hard to make sure all our birds are banded, it makes the chances that an unbanded bird nesting somewhere in Manitoba is a Manitoba bird or a close relative less.  Basically if we know who are birds are then any other birds aren't ours ...

But yes, so far this year we aren't doing too badly you are right ... 

[RCF]

There certainly seems to be quite a few unbanded peregrines around, at least from some of the web cams I have been watching. So banded or unbanded they seem to be doing well.  

[allikat]

Nice thing about the chicks not being banded  ------   NO TRANSMITTERS     

Not an issue actually.  Because they were going to be moved to the nestbox they were going to be excluded from the transmitter project as we can't retrieve them safely when they are old enough to have a transmitter fitted.  Downside is that not only can't they be tracked for the first couple of years by satellite, but we won't be able to track them at all without band numbers.  

Having said that, if they are grounded after fledging and if they are re-releaseable, they will get bands and they will become candidates for a transmitter.  We tend to have more groundings from the ledge than from the nestbox but still we'll just have to see.  I'd prefer a boring fledgewatch with no groundings, but a soft, injury-free grounding even if it means being re-released with legbands and perhaps a transmitter runs a close second.  I'm afraid I don't look forward to fledges from the ledge anymore.  

Guess this is, what is called a, "darned if you do, darned if you don't", scenario. 
Bands are crucial to track these precious raptors, and it's a guessing game to find out, if, when, and where they may show up, with whom, and add to the family.

[The Peregrine Chick]

No tossing Dr Bob!!!