Radisson - 2008 / Trey & Princess

[Enraptured]

Regarding the feeding, TPC, I saw three feedings with day old chicks in Minnesota yesterday and each time, it seemed the adult doing the feeding would position itself a little too far away from the chicks and then the stretching to reach other was painful and not ver successful! Especially for one chick, it never seemed to get anything as it was at the back and the adult didn't move around to get to it.  Also it seemed as if the adult was expecting the chicks to grab the good versus drop it into their open mouths. I'm not sure how they're supposed to do it at this stage, but more often than not, it seemed the chicks weren't grabbing it and  the adult would back away with the food still it it's mouth... It was hard to watch, and without knowing what's normal or needed....I just thought I'd ask so I could watch P and T feed  with a little more knowledge and a lot more calmly!   

[The Peregrine Chick]

Pigeons are the peregrine equivalent of Kraft Dinner I think, they only seem to eat them with they have kids or pickins are slim.  (And yes, I like KD from time to time)  Speaking of feeding, what you see Princess and Trey bring in are not whole birds, they have had a nibble on them before they arrive.  Usually head, wings, tail are gone.  Sometimes leg.  Just bringing the good stuff since they have to fly it in and they want to bring as much as possible for the chicks.  At this stage they are ripping off tiny little pieces for the chicks, but that will change, almost day by day, as the chicks grow.

[eagle63_1999]

Yeah she was having trouble gettin her balance but didn't look like she had the full weight of her body on the chick or the egg.

[Earlybird]

I wish I could invite Princess and Trey to come and hunt at and around my building...lotsa pigeons that leave a mess on my window sills.  It's pretty close.  Is 1-1.5km too far to fly with a pigeon in the talons?

[The Peregrine Chick]

The answers are yes, yes and yes.

The banding is a long way off and Princess and Trey will be making alot of noise and dive-bombing us.  Usually they don't actually hit us because at the speeds they fly in "attack mode" we are too close to the building for them to fly safely.  And while they are ready to throw themselves at us, they know that if they are injured their chicks are goners.  So survival instinct meets parental instinct.  Its why we will spend as little time as possible go up/down and on the ledge this year.  We want to stress them all (adults and chicks) as little as possible.

[Enraptured]

Oh, good job, Princess! She got everyone tucked under her chin and moved them further into the viewing area (by a tiny bit!), but not before she stepped on the egg and then on one of the chicks. Ouch, I hope it looked worse than it was!

[Falconista]

Princess just shifted around and I could definitely see signs of hatching on the third egg! Won't be long now before we get to meet the last chick!

[winnipeg_gal]

Congratulations!  Now we get to stumble around instead of being rolled around! hehehe    Princess looks like she's been "calling" for Trey for a while now.  I guess it's feeding time again?

[Falconista]

Just got back from my lunch break and it sounds like I missed a lot! Wish I had seen the feeding! Looks like Princess is back on duty right now. She does look pretty warm. She seems to be shading the chicks rather than keeping them warm. Can't wait to get a peek at the white speck on the egg.

OOOHHH  so eggciting heheh.  Hey I hatched the same day as the chicks (such fun!)

Haha looks like I'm hatching the same day as the eggs too!

[eagle63_1999]

No wonder the adults are panting, it's 19C in Winnipeg. I still see some remanents of egg shell beyond. That one little chick doesn't want to stay beneath, parent keeps tucking the youngin back under.

[skygirlblue]

Skygirl, I never thought of my postings as helping others but reading your post makes me feel good knowing I am contributing in some measure.  I am unemployed due to disabilites from birth and have been birdwatching for over 30 years and have always wanted to contribute in some way. Thank-you for letting us know how we are helping those of you out there who can't watch play by play action.

You are most welcome....the more you can describe, the better it is for those of us not able to watch!!!  I love the descriptions and the play-by-play...they are invaluable and paint such a wonderful picture as to what is going on....Please keep it up!!!

[eagle63_1999]

Skygirl, I never thought of my postings as helping others but reading your post makes me feel good knowing I am contributing in some measure.  I am unemployed due to disabilites from birth and have been birdwatching for over 30 years and have always wanted to contribute in some way. Thank-you for letting us know how we are helping those of you out there who can't watch play by play action.

[skygirlblue]

I just had a few minutes to check in.....this is way toooooooooo exciting.  Thanks to all of you for describing what is going on....its the next best thing to being here...and I can't wait to read all the comments once I get home.....and hopefully get to see the little fluffballs!!!!  Thanks to all of you again!!!!

And thanks Tracy for setting up this new forum....such a great way to share the news and excitement!!!!

[Enraptured]

Oops! Sorry! I'm not sure why the purple extended through out the quote from Liz and my reply!  Rather purple isn't it! 

[Enraptured]

Not to quibble, but isn't it PDT?  Only asking because I know not all of the country changes -- like SK, for instance.  And yes (if so), that makes us two hours ahead.  

Well, I have to admit that I actually don't know.    Yes BC does jump forward and move back each spring and fall, but I've never seen PDT, it's always PST with a note to include 'consideration for those areas which adopt daylight savings time when calculating actual time differences between areas' (from the phone book...). So, I may have just illustrated my ignorance in a big way!  Anyway, regardless of PST or PDT, I did take daylight savings time into consideration when I double checked our time differences so, still we're 2 hours apart.    I'm pretty sure...

Darn old time difference anyway! I tried hard to get up at 4am, but hit the ol' snooze button and now I've missed the hatchings!  Darn darn darn!  At least there's one egg to go, but if Trey keeps moving everyone as much as he is, he's doing, he, the egg, and the chicks are going to be out of range of the camera! So frustrating! and yet, so exciting that we finally have chicks!
Ooh, there's a peek now and oh, Princess is quickly back on. Hopefully she'll have a gathering habit going back towards the incubation site!

Anyway, thanks for querying the PDT/PST thing, Liz.    I'll be clarifying that for myself very quickly!  I had wondered what everyone was referring to with CDT and did end up assuming the D meant daylight, but somehow I've never come across that before...