Checking on Chicks

There was a lot of chatter over the Melbourne Peregrine Falcon scrape at 367 Collins. The concern was because the Mum had not been ‘seen’ since 19:06:24 when she left the little ones after feeding them.

The chicks at Melbourne are enormous! I honestly can’t even find the small one anymore. Underneath the fluffy down that remains there are pin feathers coming in and if you look closely, those sweet pink little beaks are turning into a rather adult looking beak.

There is no need for concern for Mum. The problem is that the eyases are simply too big for her to brood anymore because there are four of them. Can you see where Mum is?

The image on the left is a week ago. The one on the right was yesterday.

I haven’t reported on Port Lincoln Ospreys for a day. These were the feeding times for yesterday: 6:52, 10:02:43 (small), 10:43:15, 14:43:39, 14:55:50, 16:11:51, 16:23 (mum caught this one), and another fish delivery somewhere around 17:59:58. It was hard to differentiate when the osplets started eating one fish and began on another during the afternoon.

The Mullet that came on the nest at 10:43:15 was still alive and Mum flew off with it, killed it, and returned at 10:44:30. When Mum brought the 16:23 fish onto the nest, part of the fish that dad had brought earlier was still there. This could have been the 17:59 feed. It is not clear. What is certain is that the chicks had massive crops throughout the day. With Mum fishing – and she seems to catch the bigger fish these days – the nest is eating well. The supplementary fish she brings in is making a huge difference to all including Mum who also needs to eat. And Dad.

One thing that I found very interesting was our dear Little Bob. Later in the evening on the 10th, the Middle sibling had caused a bit of a spat between Big Bob and Little Bob. Middle Bob seems to do this and then it ducks to get out of the way. Little Bob was not having any of it and well, we might begin to believe that Little Bob is the ‘boss’ of the nest. This was the second time that I have seen Little thwart any attempts by Big to be the dominant one in the nest. (The other was awhile ago0. I say this because Little Bob took the fish tail at 10:02 yesterday and ate it with no problem. The fish tail is a bit of a prize in an Osprey nest.

These are just some shots from the various feedings. Notice that they all line up and eat very civil!

Little Bob has the fish tail!

Little Bob had no difficulty eating the fish tail. Well done, number 3.

By the time the last fish arrived, many were so full they couldn’t even think of eating much more. Mum had a really nice feed. How grand!

Diamond and Xavier’s Only is growing well.

Today will sort out if there was a pip or not in one of the eggs. It is simply not clear. For the chick to survive, it would need to hatch today. Diamond rested better last night and wasn’t shuffling the eggs around so much. Perhaps we will have another Only Bob like Izzi last year and that is just fine. Cilla Kinross says they have never had three hatch at this nest despite three eggs being laid. In many ways raising one is so much less stressful than four. The Melbourne parents have to be worn out!

Everything is fine for the nest and the two scrape boxes. I will check in with the White-Bellied Sea Eagles later today. I understand that they are fine but that the Pied Currawong continues to be a nuisance. The Bald Eagle couples are restoring nests from last season and the Albatross for the upcoming breeding season are landing on Taiaroa Head. The world is working as it should be.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Take care. See you soon.

Thanks to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots: 367 Collins Street Falcons by Mirvac, the Port Lincoln Osprey Cam, and Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam at Orange and Cilla Kinross.