Alcoa Anglesea

Quests travels

Our Lady of Tocjester Quest is still hanging out around the Cape. Thanks to the data biologists are able to see her daily routine.

She’s spending the early mornings, and presumably her overnights, in the area around Chatham and Brewster. It looks like she’s occupying her days with jaunts out to Monomoy Island.





Melissa Lowe, Education Coordinator for the Massachusetts Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary wrote to let all of us know that Quest has been spotted at Monomoy. "One of our volunteers, Don Manchester who conducts a spring hawk watch for us, counts migrant raptors in the fall down in Chatham at Morris Island for the USFWS Monomoy NWR. I just learned he has seen Quest on several occasions He has watched her chase and try to catch a flicker ([she] was joined by another falcon in the pursuit).”

So it seems Quest has a friend. The data prooves she's an active girl and is getting enough to eat!

Alcoa Anglesea: 2 weeks old

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.

Alcoa Anglesea

Alcoa Anglesea

Eyases from day to day

Click the pictures to enlarge

Condition At Hatching

The peregrine falcon eyases are semialtricial, nidicolous; covered with off-white (prepenne) down. Semi altricial means: Covered with down, incapable of departing from the nest, and fed by the parents. In species like the peregrine falcon we speak of semi-altricial 2, hatch with the eyes closed.
The bill and feet pinkish to pale gray with eyes closed. They weigh about 35–40 g. If eyes open with food-begging first day, they are slitlike. The eyases obtain 2 downy plumages.



Growth and development

At 5 days after hatch, their mass has doubled. The eyas can sit with relative ease, and the open eyes are more round.
At 6–8 days of age the second down (mesoptile or preplumulae) starts to emerge, first on humeral and alar tracts but no down visible on belly at 6 day, although on the legs and belly at 8 days.
Also second down is well out on the wings and looks a bit blueish and sheaths of primaries breaking skin on wings.



By 10 days of age the second down is complete and uniform and outer rectrices are breaking skin. At 10 days, primaries growing at 2–3 mm/d, rectrix sheath not yet split.
At 14 days the second down is dense and long, rectrix sheath about 2 mm and typically ninth primary emerges from sheath.
By day 17 the contour feathers start to push out prepennae and only pale (buffy) tips of rectrices have emerged but growing at about 2 mm/d (since day 13).


By 10 days of age the second down is complete and uniform and outer rectrices are breaking skin. At 10 days, primaries growing at 2–3 mm/d, rectrix sheath not yet split.
At 14 days the second down is dense and long, rectrix sheath about 2 mm and typically ninth primary emerges from sheath.
By day 17 the contour feathers start to push out prepennae and only pale (buffy) tips of rectrices have emerged but growing at about 2 mm/d (since day 13).


At 20 days while still with heavy coat of second down, brown contour feathers are visible on margins of wings, tail, and faintly around the eyes.
By 30 days young appears about half down-covered and half feathered; while side of face well feathered, crown still covered with down.


At 35 days while mostly feathered, large conspicuous patches of down around legs, under wings, and on crown.
At 40 days almost fully feathered with traces of down on crown and under wings and outer several remiges; rectrices not fully grown but bird capable of weak flight.

From my Peregrine falcon website:

http://www.falcoperegrinus.nl/

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Alcoa Anglesea: 12 days old

I think I can fly.....