Oberhausen: courtship

The Oberhausen nestcam is working again! And both male and female were there in head-bow-low and digging holes!

Oberhausen

Oberhausen: pigeon soap

Here we go again, the daily pigeon soap. One hour later than usual, but Mom brought in a just caught pigeon. And the three rascals took it immediately, pulled and pushed in into the nestbox. No doubt load screaming. And there they where, with the headless pigeon. One stood on top of it. It all looked very raptorial real, but the problem was that it stopped there. They just don't have a clou how to get to the meat with all those darn feathers around it.
Mom walked behind them to the nestbox and just stood there watching. Looking into the cam as if she was thinking, they'don't know what to do, but I will teach them a lesson once more.
And again she did the right thing. She left.
The little male was right behind here and screamed to her, but she had enough, she flew off.
And it took a long time before she came back. Only one of the juvi's had managed to get a bite out of the neckwound of the poor pigeon. The other two just laid themselves down on the ledge. No meal today.
How educational. They do watch when she is plucking. They have to learn it that way. It's clearly not instinctive, this plucking affair. I've seen more nestlings having big problems with plucking. But once they have thorn off a few feathers it's bingo, that's the way. I wonder how long it will take these three.
In the meantime it is hilarious

Oberhausen: where is our dinner....

The eyases or better almost juvi's had to wait very long for their evening dinner. They waited for hours. When it finally came arounf 20:00 hours they attacked the bird, they where really hungry. They didn't even wait for the parent to bring the prey in the nest, but started eating on the ledge. So no pictures of that.
After dinner they flapped their wings as usual, did some preening and went to sleep. Mom watches over them while behind her the night slowly sets in. And what beautiful colors it painted in the sky. Sleep tight dear juvi's and awake healthy in the morning.

Oberhausen: so beautiful

Nightfall in Oberhausen Germany with magnificent colors








This keeps amazing me daily. The photo's are so awesome. These chicks are growing into real juvi's. The females are turning brown now as well. And all three are exploring the ledge. And excersing their wings frequently. You can see very well now, how the feathers are breaking through two kinds of down. The real one that will stay on and forms the warm and isolating underlayers on the skin. And the down that sticks to the top of the feathers and was pushed out of the feather follicle.

Feather anatomy

Feathers are made out of keratin, the same protein found in hair and nails. Feathers have a central shaft. The smooth, unpigmented base, which extends under the skin into the feather follicle, is called the calamus. The portion above the skin, from which the smaller barbs or branches extend, is termed the rachis or scapus. On each side of the rachis there is a set of filaments, called barbs, which come off at approximately a 45º angle. This portion of the feather that has barbs is called the vane. In the larger feathers, these barbs have two sets of microscopic filaments called barbules. Barbules from one barb cross the adjacent barbs at a 90º angle. Barbules, in turn, have hooklets, sometimes called hamuli or barbicels, which hook the barbules together, like a zipper, forming a tight, smooth surface. These maintain the shape of the feather. Without these strong linkages, the feather would not be able to withstand the air resistance during flight. The barbs or hooklets may become separated from each other; if this occurs, the bird can reattach them while preening. At the base of the feathers, there are often barbs that are not hooked together. These are called downy barbs.

Feathers with barbules and hooklets are termed "pennaceous," and one can think of them as the feathers that would be used for a quill pen. Feathers without barbules and hooklets, such as down feathers, are called "plumaceous" and have more the appearance of a plume. Some feathers have both pennaceous and plumaceous portions. Some feathers have what are called afterfeathers, or hypopenae, at the base of the vane in an area called the distal umbilicus. These, really, are barbs without hooks, which help trap air and offer some insulation.
Feathers are not arranged haphazardly on the bird, but in major distinct tracts called pterylae. The featherless areas between the pterylae are called apteria.

Oberhausen

Oberhausen: dinnertime

Oberhausen

The eyases here are now 21 days old. The first juvenile feathers begin to poke through the down on the breast and on the head beside the eyes. The chicks continue to rest on their tarsi much of the time, rather than standing on their feet, but this balance shifts quickly in the days to follow. Around the edges of the wings the feathershafts are very clearly visible now.
It strikes me that these eyases are not wandering about a lot, or trying to get to the entrance of the scrape. They just stay in the back of the nest and are not active at all. I have seen totally different behaviour in other eyries.

Oberhausen feeding

Oberhausen

Oberhausen

Oberhausen:16 days old

Oberhausen eyases

Oberhausen: tasty meal

Oberhausen: growing so fast!

Oberhausen: growing so fast!

Oberhausen: meet the parents

A remarkable shot: the Oberhausen couple together at the entrance of the eyrie. Note the size difference between the male and the female. Only recent biologists suggested that this sizedifference is an evolutionary asset. The smaller male is much more agile when hunting, and can because of his smaller size react much quicker on the agility of prey then the larger female.
The parts they both play in the nesting season is obvious therefor: she takes care of the hatchlings, while he hunts. In order to keep the eager customers satisfied in the scrape the male peregrine has to kill several times a day. And not every stoop is succesful, only in 30% of every stoop the male succeeds in a kill.

While the courtship is still going on the female makes a cache to store food in. The male hunts, brings home prey. He waits on the ledge till she get's it and takes it away. For offering prey is a major part of courtship. When the female is finished eating she caches it, in a place no other animal can get it. And not to far from the eyrie. When the eyases are born, the male takes the prey to the female, she feeds the hatchlings with it and brings the leftovers to the cache. That way she has always food in storage for the babies.

Oberhausen

Just a few very remarkable shots. The eldest one has discovered she has wings! And has already started wing excersises. Can't start early enough with that!
When you scroll down in the day you will find a slideshow of these three little rascals.

Oberhausen eyases

Oberhausen: 12 days old eyases

The eyases in Oberhausen are growing very fast. They are 12 days old now. The chicks are beginning to sit upright on their bottom with their enormous feet in front of them. But most of the time they lean on eachother. The very beginnings of wing feather development are also seen around this time. The primary flight feathers are the first to grow. The feathers grow inside a shaft and these will become more and more visable the upcoming days along the edges of the winghand. Next are the secondary flight feathers and tailfeathers. The chicks will start preening as well, they do that by instinct.
The eldest chick in Oberhausen has discovered it has wings, and is flapping away.