You're in: Home » Peregrine Falcons

Peregrine Falcons 2010

3rd July: Chick 39 update...

We thought this year's chick ringed with number 39 was found uninjured but not able to fly very well, unfortunately this was not the case.

When examined at the rehabilitation centre X-rays showed a fractured clavicle & ribs. He is recovering but it will take a while before he is able to fly. He will now stay at the rehabilitation centre until fully recovered.

One positive thing that comes out of this is how precious these chicks are and how everything possible is done to ensure their wellbeing...how many other birds found in the street would be x-rayed!

We never seem to do well with a chick with a ring number that is a multiple of 13, perhaps we should throw away rings 52 and 65!

1st July: Bringing the coverage to a close

Due to a long spell of warm dry weather appearances in the nest box have been very sparse recently, an absence of rain meant that no one was going into the box for shelter!! Today we removed the camera from the box. While we were on the roof the adults birds and the chick were flying around us.

The chick ringed 40 did venture into the box earlier this week and our video shows him in all his glory in his flying livery. He appears to be a strong flyer and is often seen in the air with one or both parents.

21st June: Not great news but...

The chick ringed with number 39 was found in a street below Sussex Heights on the morning of 21st June. No signs of injury, but not really able to fly particularly well. It is going to the Mallydams wildlife rehabilitation centre at Hastings where it will be cared for until it is strong enough to be released back into the wild.

Not particularly good news but at least it was found alive and can now be looked after.

The other chick has been spotted flying close to the top of the building, at one point it landed on a balcony about 4 or 5 floors from the top and then flew back to the top.

13th June:

Now that both chicks are regularly spending time out on the roof of the building seeing them both in the nest box at the same time is becoming rarer. We've added a couple of videos from yesterday showing each of the chicks.

The first video shows the chick ringed with number 40 getting quite into grabbing the latest meal for himself, with the adult having to grab it back:

A little bit later during the day we can see the other chick (ring 39) taking a look at the camera.

6th June:

The chicks are at a bit of halfway point at the moment, as their feathers start to develop and they begin to lose their white downy appearance.

The adults are still feeding the chicks as can be seen in the video below, however the chicks are starting to investigate scraps of food left in the box for themselves.

6th June: Chicks venturing out of the box

With the onset of some warm sunny weather over the last few days the youngsters have started to venture outside the box. Yesterday one was out on the roof for most of the day while the other stayed in the box until late in the day when he decided to go out too. Both birds returned to the box in the evening to settle down for the night.

Today both birds are back out on the roof under the watchful eyes of the adults, where they can stretch and exercise their wings and may well stay until this evening.

Ringing the chicks

This year's chicks were ringed last Thursday, 27th May, under the watchful eyes of the adult birds. It appears we have two male chicks this year.

As is the normal practice as well as ringing, a range of measurements such as weight and feather length were taken and a feather was removed from each chick for DNA registration.

Ring number	Weight	Gender
39	665 grams (1.5 pounds)	Male
40	610 grams	Male

26th May: Getting bigger...

This video clip shows the chicks getting a feed yesterday. They have grown considerably and are due to be ringed on the 27th.

You can see that the tail feathers are now starting to appear.

22nd May: It happens every year!

Don't worry if you've taken a look on the camera today and wondered where the chicks have gone. In what seems to have become a yearly tradition as soon as the chicks get reasonably mobile they camp out under the camera in a blind spot where we can't see them...

16th May: Growing quickly...

It's now just over a week since the first two chicks hatched and in that time they have grown quite considerably. They are now getting feeds regularly through the day. In the pictures below you can get an idea of just how much the chicks have grown by comparing it to the remaining egg.

We had our doubts about whether the fourth egg would hatch successfully as it appeared rather later than we would have expected but it is disappointing to see that the other egg has not hatched. It is unlikely it will successfully hatch now so we are left with the two chicks, the lowest number we've had in the nest box for a considerable time. If either of the remaining eggs did, by chance, hatch now, the chick would not survive as it would be too far behind the two chicks we already have.

8th May: Feeding the first two chicks

While we wait for the remaining two eggs to hatch here's a video taken from yesterday of the first two chicks being fed.

The video starts out with the male peregrine at the bottom of the picture feeding the chicks, he's then joined by his mate soon after who brings some more food in for the chicks.

7th May: Two chicks have hatched

This morning the first two chicks have hatched.

Keep an eye out over the rest of the day to see if the other two decide to make an appearance today. We'll go through the recorded footage and will try and post a video of the chicks in the next day or two...

4th May: Getting closer to hatching

It's been a harsh last few days for the peregrines as they incubate the eggs, over the weekend cold wind and rain have been blowing into the nest box demonstrating the resolve of the parents to keep the eggs safe.

The eggs are generally incubated for just over 30 days once the last-but-one egg has been laid (the adults start incubating the eggs before the last egg is laid). Using last year as a guide, there were 35 days between the 3rd egg and the first hatching so we could be looking around Saturday 8th May for our first chick. Be sure to check on the web cam towards the end of the week to see if we have any chicks...

23th April: Leaving no stone unturned...

If you've had a chance to take a look at our live video stream, you might have noticed the adults seem quite interested in stone arranging. Sifting through the stones nearby while sitting on the eggs.

This behaviour isn't unique to this pair or nest site as other sites around the world also see this happen. The previous pair who raised chicks in the Sussex Heights nest box also seemed to have a great enthusiasm for leaving no stone unturned - sometimes lifting off the eggs as they reach for a stone.

We're not sure why they do it - perhaps it's to keep the nest box tidy or it could be something for them to relieve the boredom of sitting on the eggs for hours at a time...

17th April: Webcam now available in live video

Today we've added a new option for viewing the webcam - a live video stream. The video stream includes not only live pictures from the nest box but also sound from the camera's microphone.

If you aren't able to view the live video our existing 'still' webcam page is still available. We hope you enjoy the new video coverage, if you have any comments please let us know.

8th April: A fourth but pale egg

Yesterday (Wednesday) morning revealed a fourth egg has been laid. As you may be able to see from the picture below it is noticeably lighter than the other three eggs.

At the moment we're not sure if this will affect the chances of the egg successfully hatching.

Both parents have been seen on the camera incubating the eggs around the clock for a couple of days now so we doubt there will be any further eggs.

3rd April: Third egg

Sunrise this morning brought a sighting of the third egg of the year. As the adults appear to have started to incubate the eggs around the clock it would suggest that we might see one final egg over the next couple of days.

If you followed the progress of the peregrines last year you may remember that in 2009 four eggs were laid. Although they all hatched, the fourth chick arrived nearly a week later than the other three and didn't survive past a couple of days.

31st March: Second egg

It caught us a little by surprise, but the second egg of the year was laid at around 1530 today.

Keep an eye out on the webcam on Friday to see if we get a third egg.

31st March: Waiting for a second egg

Using last year as a guide the four eggs were laid roughly 2.5 - 3 days apart, so we should see the next egg sometime on Thursday.

If you're worried that nobody appears to be sitting on the egg at times this is perfectly normal at this stage. The adults won't start incubating the eggs continuously until the second-to-last or last egg has been laid. This is so they all hatch within a couple of days of each other.

29th March: First egg

This morning has brought us the first egg of the year.

As the weather is a bit cold and foggy at the moment the female peregrine has been sitting on the egg to keep it warm.

24th March:

The birds are quite active in the nest box these days which suggests that egg laying could be imminent.

If you followed last year's nesting season you may remember that we had a completely new pairing with both a new male and female. This year's peregrines are the same pair as last year, and if you want to tell them apart on the webcam the male falcon is the only one with identification rings around the feet.

16th March: Preparing the nestbox

As we get closer to the first egg, the activity in and around the nestbox starts to increase. The last couple of days have seen both peregrines in the nestbox several times. In the two videos below the smaller male peregrine can be seen facing the camera (furthest away) and is always very careful to bow his head lower than his dominant partner.

Towards the end of the first video you can see the female peregrine digging a bit more of the scrape that will hopefully be home to our first egg soon...

3rd March: Coverage begins

The camera is up and running in the nestbox ready for this year's breeding season. We're slightly later than normal this year as the old camera packed up, something we didn't find out about until we went to install it in the nestbox and we had to get a new one...

12th February: 2010 Peregrine Breeding Season

We have pencilled in the last week of February for putting the webcam back in the nest box.

By doing so this early hopefully we will be able to capture any pre-mating rituals that the birds go through. We trust this year will be less dramatic than last when we captured the extremely vicious fight that took place in the box between the old male who had been resident in there for ten years and the new female.

Be sure to check back towards the end of the month when we should have the webcam up and running...

About the nestbox

A nesting box was put 334 feet up at the top of Sussex Heights in spring 1998. Each year since then the pair has successfully raised chicks, two in 1998, four chicks were born in 1999, but unfortunately one died; details of subsequent years can be found in our archive. In 2002 the birds decamped to the West Pier meaning that we were unable to track their progress.

The pair are believed to be the first pair to breed in an urban environment in the south of England for three years running, hopefully they will continue to produce more chicks in years to come. Peregrine falcons were extinct in Sussex between 1945 and 1990.

Peregrine falcons generally pair up for life and when the chicks are old enough to leave the nest will probably not see their parents again.

If you'd like to find out more about peregrine falcons we have a peregrine information page with more information.

The Society is grateful to the Sussex Ornithological Society for making pictures from their camera in the nestbox available to us.