Peregrine update: Pigeon feast

Three of the four eggs have hatched now and the chicks are quickly growing into fluffy white trainee-killers. It's not looking good for the egg that hasn't hatched. It's often left exposed; I think the parents have given up on it. In fact, I think it's gone now. Maybe they ate it.

If you're lucky, you can see a gory mealtime, you can watch as the mother methodically rips chunks of dead pigeon and feeds them to the gaping chick mouths. She crunches down the less easily digestible parts for herself, like the legs.

There is a slightly smaller chick who must be the youngest, and he struggles to get a share of the pigeon. He strains and pushes but he can't reach the proffered flesh. His siblings have longer necks and the strength to shoulder him away. We were worried that the small chick might slowly starve in this fashion, but a pigeon's raw meat goes a long way and soon the bigger chicks are getting full and the small one can assert his hungry desperation. 

And then there are long periods of inactivity. The mother still incubates the hatched chicks to keep them warm and from time to time she writhes about as if the chicks are making her uncomfortable. The whole family are rarely seen together. Even at night. When the chicks grow up the parents can spend more time together, content in the knowledge that this year's breeding has been completed successfully.


See the webcam here.