Lord of the Rings reloaded

Here he is, our male peregrine falcon of the 130 m high Alticom Tower in De Mortel. The guy who saved his eyases against all odds from the prey steeling intruder last year. The intruder who killed his mate.
That very same intruder is now the very much beloved female peregrine S2. She laid 4 eggs and all 4 eggs hatched. The little eyases are now 8 days old. And we love them.
Happiness in the nestbox again.

Rochester

Oberhausen: 30 days old

Terminal Tower

De Mortel: 8 days old

Brighton Sussex Heights: 2 eyases!

The first eyas was born last night and the seond during the morning of April 28. The third egg has a pip, so there will be a third eyas tomorrow morning!

James River Bridge: 19 days old

Little small fluffy hatchlings grow up so fast. Look at the JRB hatchlings how big they are covered in the second down. On some pics the growing flightfeathers are very well visible. The chicks are roughly half the size of their parents, but their feet are already nearly full-grown, and thus appear disproportionately large. Also at this age, a small patch bare of down begins to appear behind the eyes.

Zwolle: 3 hatchlings

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Late last night the third eyas hatched, and early this morning all three where present at breakfast. Magpie was served and the hatchlings had quite an appetite. The three eyases are well been taken care off. No we all wait for the 4th hatchling to arrive.

Indianapolis: 4th hatch

Eemsmond: probable failure

At the Eemsmond nestsite things are not going the way they should. The eggs should have hatched on the 24th of April, give or take 2 days. The eggs are overdue.
They are probably not viable. Both peregrines know something is wrong. This morning the male came in to check everything out. Both male and female will stay incubating until the eggs are about 45 days old. After that they will stay away more and more untill they decide that it is hopeless and will probably leave then.
By then it is to late in the season to start a second clutch.
It would be best to take the eggs out, so the pair can start again, but I'm sure that won't happen.

What is the cause, well it's hard to engage in to speculation. I do not know this couple. Last year 4 eggs where laid from which 3 hatched, and 3 juvi's fledged from this nestsite. Maybe this is a new female who has laid her first clutch. It is always very possible that the eggs are not viable in a first clutch. I cannot imagine that the eggs cooled off to much. They where very careful to keep them warm when the snow came etc. So it is not clear what is wrong.

Rome: 19 days old

Oberhausen: aren't they great!

The Oberhausen chicks are 30 days old already. Growing into juveniles by the day. It is obvious we have 1 male and 2 females at this nestsite. The male is smaller and much faster in his molt to the juvenile plumage. Beautiful brown he is. He's a cute little guy, quite nosy he is.
The 2 females are bigger, and still covered in down. Look at the legs, they still have big patches of white around them.
This transformationproces is fascinating, from chick to raptor in 42 days. It is a real energy consuming proces with an enormous metabolismrate. It must be agony for the little ones, to grow at this speed. They are exhausted all day, and that is no miracle considering. Sleep little ones, in a fortnight you will fly and become buccaneers of the skies.

Cobb Island: 7 days old

How qute and sweet are these 3 eyases. Being offered delicious food to grow into bid, healty and strong raptors. The 4 th egg is still around, as if it should participate in the food ritual. But the embryo inside did never really start it's existance.



Remember this image from MaRCH 17. This egg is covered in droppings. That's the end of it. There are many infectious organisms that can be transferred from the female to the egg that may cause the egg to die. In some cases, the infectious organism may infect the egg, yet the embryo may continue developing, and may even hatch, carrying the organism at hatch time. If an organism is passed from an infected female directly into an egg, and then into the developing embryo, this is called vertical transmission. The term vertical transmission is also used to describe transmission of an infectious agent from a parent to an egg during fertilization, during egg development in the oviduct of the female or immediately after oviposition.

Once the egg is laid, some infectious organisms can pass through the eggshell upon contact with contaminated feces, urates or bedding. This is also considered vertical transmission if infection occurs immediately after laying. Some organisms are transmitted from the ovary to the egg, and this is called transovarian transmission. Infectious organisms harbored in the oviduct can also be passed into the egg prior to the shell being formed. Some organisms can infect eggs if contents from the cloaca contaminate the surface of the eggs, and then penetrate the egg. The other method of transmission of infectious organisms is by horizontal transmission. Some ways that horizontal transmission occurs are by preening, inhalation, copulation, insect or animal bites, ingestion, contact with contaminated equipment or fighting.

It seems obvious that prior to the egg membranes and shell being applied to it, the egg would be susceptible to infection by numerous infectious organisms. Even though the eggshell appears solid, it contains microscopic pores that can allow liquids and organisms of small enough size into the egg. The pores allow the transfer of gasses, as well.

All these things can be the reason as well of the tragedy at the VAFalcon Richmond nestsite.

Zurich: again a welcome visitor

Nijmegen:7 days old

James River Bridge: grown so big

Heidelberg: 16 days old

The Heidelberg chicks enjoying the sunshine. Because of the sunshine in that corner they moved to the corner on the lefthandside. And out of range of the cam.
Hopefully they will move back in sight in the next couple of days......

Zwolle: early morning feeding

Early morning breakfast: magpie. Dad did the catch and the kids where hungry. The 3 eyases had quite an appetite!

Oberhausen: awesome

They are really growing up. This female is eating prey herself. These are raptors to be and their instinct is right up there! No doubt about it!

Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project

Hatchtable: updated

With the lastest hatches and failures the hatchtable looks like this