MN / Elk River - 2008-22

[The Peregrine Chick]

Tracy -- do they spit??!!  I was just watching this cam, heard a noise and at the same time something seemed to go flying out of the box (no, not a bird! lol).  It really looked like the parent spit!  Or sneezed and clear the nose -- gross.  Do they do that? 

Spit, no.  Fling feces, yes.  They also cough up pellets - like a cat coughs up hairballs.  Its all the undigestible material from the things they eat - feathers and bone mostly.  Younger birds, when there is an infestation of grasshoppers will eat them and then you get green pellets with grasshopper exoskeletons.  No kidding.  First year I worked on the project, kept finding green pellets.  Couldn't understand why there were no bones and feathers.  Took me about a week to figure it out. 

So which end did "it" come out of?

[Liz]

Tracy -- do they spit??!!  I was just watching this cam, heard a noise and at the same time something seemed to go flying out of the box (no, not a bird! lol).  It really looked like the parent spit!  Or sneezed and clear the nose -- gross.  Do they do that? 

[Pchemist]

Yay, it wasn't my imagination.  How cool to get to see that!
 

[skygirlblue]

Ok, everybody...#3 is out and wet!!!!  yippee!!!!

[Pchemist]

As I recall from last year watching P&T, feeding is a matter of who sticks their beak in the way.  Doesn't seem there is an effort to make sure it's "fair" - it's all about learning to get what you need.  I did find myself rooting for the one who kept falling over to get in there and get some food though.

I thought I saw third egg really starting to open up, but it could be my imagination.

[deedream]

thanks. Yes it seemed like the one little fellow squawked the whole time and ,, oh, they switched again, fun watching them fly away down below.  anyhow hope that doensn't happen often.  It was nerve racking watching, I kept saying , give him some too, lol, poor little thing.  

[skygirlblue]

Hey...I think we may have hatch #3!!!! 

[skygirlblue]

yes, fascinating.   Skygirlblue, did you watch the feeding?  It seemed as if only one chick got fed.  Whats that all about I wonder, or maybe I just couldn't see real good.  

Unfortunately, I missed the feeding...she could have missed one....but don't worry...they've got some reserves, left over from the yolk...

[deedream]

yes, fascinating.   Skygirlblue, did you watch the feeding?  It seemed as if only one chick got fed.  Whats that all about I wonder, or maybe I just couldn't see real good. 

[deedream]

hey everyone,,, feeding time at the Minnesota site... hurry and watch!!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Yes, Earlybird, you are being impatient 

The chicks don't usually hatch all at once, there is generally some time between them. Sometimes it is just a few hours, sometimes a day.  Last year, the first of our chicks hatched early on a Monday morning, the last, Mistral, hatched on the Wednesday afternoon.  Most hatchings, 40% according to the literature, occur in the morning.  Certainly most of ours do.

So think happy thoughts, the third chick will probably be out by tomorrow.

And no, this isn't where Princess was hatched.  She was hatched on the NSP Power Station in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  There are lots of nestboxes on power stations in the US.  The Elk River Station is, I believe, a biomass fuel plant that makes electricity from municipal refuse (plant matter and animal waste).  Cool place to have nesting peregrines I've always thought!

As for who they are, I'm afraid I don't know, but I will find out for us all!

[Earlybird]

That third egg doesn't seem to be hatching anymore, please tell me I'm just being impatient?

Did I read that this is the place where Princess was born?

Is it known who these birds are?

[skygirlblue]

2008 NESTING SEASON

Great River Energy Power Station

http://www.greatriverenergy.com/ebc/birdcam.html

Excellent Streaming with sound....(and lots of trains going by  )

4 eggs were laid...the first hatch was this morning....pipping in another egg...I don't know if this second egg has hatched...

I got very lucky this morning and actually saw the hatch....prior to that you could hear the little one calling from the egg......you could see the pip in the egg and the little one moving behind it..mom was way too funny....she had food...and kept putting the food on top of the hatching egg...