Bologna: eyases are growing

Rochester: 5th egg!!

The proud parents of 5 wonderful eggs

Wow she did it again, legendary Mariah. A fifth egg! At 10:58 AM she laid her 5th egg of this season. Great job wonderful lady of Rochester. 5 eyases to be. 5 strong and healthy offspring of these strong parents. It will be a great season!

I'm looking so forward to seeing these eyases grow up!!

Zwolle

Terminal Tower Cleveland

Sussex Heights Brighton

The wheather looks a whole lot better than yesterday with all that snow.

Columbus Ohio

And there was a second egg. And we are all delighted with that. I did not look good at all. The one egg in the scrape, for over a week, in the sun, in the cold. But Scout laid the first one of her second clutch after all. It is just great she managed to get it all togetehre again and get herself over what wa stroubling her. And came through.

There was a lot of conversation going on between her and Orville after the egg was laid.

Love that about peregrines, they are so very communicative in the breeding season.

I'm very curious if she will add one or two more.

Rome: waiting for eyases

Tomorrow will be the 33rd incubationday, so maybe we can see a pip in one of the eggs .....

De Mortel

Nijmegen: the day after

All quiet here after the territorial dispute yesterday. There where some questions about the how and why of this agressive behaviour of peregrines. And why the male did not help his female.

When there is an intruder at first both peregrines will try to chase him/her away. But when it comes to a fight this is always between two birds of the same gender. The other one stays out and doe snot interfere.

In nature it's all about survival of the fittest. So survival with the strongest genes. It is in the interest of the partner that the bird wins with the best genes. So offspring will be strong, healthy and will be able to survive.

When things get really serious, one of the birds will be killed in a territorial dispute. If the fight is between females it is always about the male plus the territory. So the one who wins get the male and the territory.

However when 2 males fight over a female and one gets killed, the female decides if she wants the winner, or not. If not she becomes a floater and moves. Untill she finds a territory with a male and often a female and the whole thing starts all over again. This territoriality is an essential part of the peregrine falcon. It is their way of life.

Peregrines are raptors. They kill on a daily basis. When they have eyases they have to kill several times a day. When we watch the qute little white fluffy chicks which are fed, we often forget that they are offered flesh from another bird which was killed minutes ago. The live of a peregrine falcon is not a fairytale, it is a matter of survival. To kill or be killed. It is their way of life and as long as we honor and respect that and let them be their own raptor self, it is OK.

They are magnificent, magical and absolutely inspiring and enlighting.

Born of the sun, they travelled a short while towards the sun

and left the sky filled with their honor..........

James River Bridge

Well, preparations for hatching are going on inside the eggs here. 32 days ago Elisabeth and Sir James started incubating their 4 eggs. So it won't be long before we can welcome eyases in to our wonderful world. Good luck little ones with this task to get out of the shell. We are anxiously waiting for you, and will be so happy when you are there....