5 May 2024
Late last week the Pitt peregrine chicks had grown enough to begin walking across the nestbox.
Carla’s reaction to this activity seemed to be “What are you doing out here?” Often she stepped in to herd the chick to the back wall of the nestbox.
Yesterday, 4 May at 5:30pm, Carla and the chicks were waiting for Ecco to make a food delivery when one chick became impatient. It motored to the front where Carla was perched, begging along the way.
The entire “motoring” episode is excerpted in the 5.75 minute video below.
Carla knows they’re hungry so she checks for food scraps on the gravel but none are available. To calm the chick she pulls it toward her and shelters it under her breast. The chicks don’t have long to wait. In less than six minutes Ecco brings food to the nestbox but he is not an expert baby-feeder. Carla arrives with a large prey item and feeds the chicks. Lots of food!
Turn up the sound to hear both chicks begging, one high pitched and one scratchy-sounding. The high-pitched sound comes from the smaller chick, who is likely male. The scratchy sound comes from the larger (walking) chick who is likely female. The size difference is how we tell the sex of the peregrine chick.
The chicks are growing fast. Check out their progress at the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.
Something I’ve been wondering. All the other peregrine chicks I’ve seen on camera have been white, but these 2 look light gray. Not sure if it’s the camera or what.
J, I think that they look different because the camera is high definition and has to be so close to them. Zoomed at this distance we can see the gaps in their feather down, right down to their pink skin! Also, you can see in this article that they look fluffy white in the photos from the old snapshot camera. Even Carla’s color is different in the old vs new cameras.