Today the 3 chicklets are already 2 weeks old. We've all seen how they are mobile now, they move from one corner to the other. Around day 14, the chicks are beginning to enter the "hunchback" phase, during which they are often seen in this typical pose, with their feet splayed out in front of them and their head angled forward. They are covered in teh second down which warm and protects them. They can regukate their bodytemperature themselves now. The parents don't brood them anymore in the daytime.
In the meantime the juvenile feathers are growing fast. The first signs of this is visible at the edges of the wings and tail. The primaries are growing about 2-3 mm/day. This feather grow requires an enormous amount of energy and protein. So they need a lot of food. Feedings are long. We've seen how the falcon brings whole pigeons into the nestbox to pluck and serve to her eyases. She doesn not remove the leftovers anymore. They are left behind for the chicklets to nibble on.
The eyases have started the imprint proces. Now that their sight is complete and their consiousness is present, they have started on the proces of selfconsiousness. By seeing their parents and their sibblings they start to be aware of their own selfimage of being a wild animal, a predator. The eyases are very interested in their sibblings, what they look like, what they do, how they do it. They use them as a kind of mirror. This is a very interesting proces which will continue untill they go their own way and leave their birth grounds.
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