Terminal Tower Cleveland.

I am quite used to the fabulous photo's of Scott Wright of the TT chicks. But this year he is not able to make as many as he would like. But now Chad and Chris Saladin made these great shots of the chicks. They are awesome, so amazingly beautiful are these 4 TT chicklets and SW and Buckeye. Thank you so very very much Chad and Chris!

The instincts both Chad and Chris have of when a PF is going to "go" is startling!! They cover MANY nests in Cleveland, and it's a big bonus that they are taking over fledge duties for Scott this year. When fledge starts is when Chad and Chris really get going. They are both taking 3 weeks off in june just to cover fledges everywhere!! Incredible people with vast knowledge!!
They are very devoted when it comes to these birds. They shape their life around them and also give many presentations and lectures with pics and vids that are unreal!! Plus, they are great people!! Thanks for sharing this beauty with us.

All pictures are courtesy Chad and Chris Saladin ©

Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project on Sunday

After weeks of nice weather, the rain started falling today. And our Fab Four where getting wet all over. Ahh gosh, look at them. They didn't like it one little bit. The female did stay with them for a while but the rain was not that hard, so she left.

When they are older and have their juvenile plumage, rain in no problem at all. They preen their feathers with this very special oil from the preengland just above the tail. This is a kind of balm for the feathers and makes the plumage waterproof. This oil is very special, it contains as well some kind of provitamine D, which transforms into Vitamine D by the UV light from teh sun. When the peregrine is preening he/she zips the barbs of the feathers with it's beak and digests at the same time the oil from the feathers which has been processed by the sun.







The chicks will be ringed this week. Then we will know if we indeed have 3 ladies and one little guy.
Read about that on the Derby Pages:
http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/

Rochester

The 5 eyases are doing fine overhere. Kaver and Mariah bringing them lost of nice and tasty bites of birds. The 5 are looking very healthy. Clearley visible are the canges in everyone of them. Around the eyes the first brown patches appear. It's going so fast. Something else very clear is the difference in size which has nothing to do with the agedifference. So I think we have 3 ladies and 2 lords of Rochester overhere. I wonder.

De Mortel: wings and more wings

Our beloved 4 eyases, better juvies are growing very fast to the point of leaving the nestbox. The eldest one, the male is standing in the opening looking into destiny, longing to go. But his body is not ready yet to carry him through the sky. S2 watches the growth and is stepping aside more and more. The parents now bring prey to the nest en leaving it there for the juvies to eat alone. The one manages it better than the other.
The eldest female, second in birth is huge. She was 955 grams at banding day, but she has grown more since than. Her mother our beautiful S2 is very huge as well.

It's an exciting time now, waiting for the step on the ledge of the male. It cannot be far away.








We tape everything live in the Tower From 6 in the morning till 10 at night. I am making clips of this feed. You can watch all clips on the De Mortel You Tube video channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/demortel2008

Check in daily for new clips.! You can subscripe to the channel as well and receive daily updates.

Oberhausen: goodbye

Zwolle: 30 days old

New Yersey:

Brighton Sussex Heights: 28 days old

The chicks are nearing the midpoint of their transition from down-covered chick to juvenile-plumaged fledgling, and are nearly full-grown in terms of body size and weight. The look huge from some cam angles. But mostly they look healthy and very beautiful.

Nijmegen: 34 days old

Heidelberg; near fledging

2 Eager juvi's flapping on the ledge almost ready for the giant leap into destiny. How excited they must feel. Born with the spirit to fly, but having to wait until the body is ready to carry them through walls of clouds towards the sun. Go loved ones and let the Great Spirit guide your ways.

Italian updates

For weeks we have been following the Italian nestsites of Bologna and Rome. In Bologna 2 out of 4 eggs hatched on April 4. The 2 eyases grew up to beautiful juvi;s who fledged on May 12. The Bologna juvies are doing very well. A couple of friends living nearby go to the towers every day and spotted them. A bad moment for the female who put one talon into a nest and was unable to get free for a while.. then she succeded to fly away safe.



The 2 Rome eyases, so very dear to my heart, who we have all watched by live webcam, have fledged as well. How good for those two proud juveniles. We all remember two very fluffy adorable little eyases who hatched on April 10. It was so sweet to watch them so very moving how fragile. We saw the transform to chicklets and into juveniles.



Giovanna from the Italian Forum writes to me:

The male in Roma fledged on May 21rst.
The female on May 22nd.

We were very concerned about Ponentino (the male): nobody was able to spot nor find him after he fledged.
Tati (the female) fledged successfully and was spottted many times on the roofs around the nest, also fed by her parents.
Finally, yesterday in the evening Niseema was able to see both the juvies together on different ledges of the University's building.



Also the parents were visible around there, so NO DOUBT the two juvies are both safe and sound!!!
The guys in Rome really did a good job! They never left until they could find the "little one".

Thank you Giovanna for the update!