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Peregrine Falcons 2009

14th July: Bringing the coverage to a close

Well it's about time to turn the camera off for this year, there's not a lot of activity in the nestbox and the camera lens has been a bit murky from just a few days after we went up and ringed the chicks.

It's been an eventful breeding season this year. We had the new pair of birds arrive, the unidentified female and the male that hatched on Chichester cathedral four years ago.

The return of the male who had been resident in the nestbox for the last ten years who was evicted by the new female, it would be good to know what became of our old friend but perhaps we never will..

Three youngsters have survived and they appear healthy and strong. Thankfully we haven't had to rescue any of the young this year.

It will be interesting to see whether the adult birds stay on Sussex Heights over the autumn and winter months as the old male and his partners used to do.

Even though the camera is switched off we can still see the birds from the ground so if we have any further news we will put updates here.

As for the present it is about time for the young birds to leave Sussex Heights and start making their own way in the world.....

3rd July: Life skills training has begun...

Looking up towards the top of Sussex Heights now it is quite possible you will see the peregrines in the air together, ducking and diving, coming into contact with each other as the adults teach the youngsters the hunting skills that they will need for the rest of their lives.

28th June: Up, up and away...(well maybe not away just yet)

The young are now flying. Earlier today there was a mass exodus from the ledge with the young appearing to chase some pigeons although obviously not catching them.

In the evening all five birds were spotted back on the roof.

Last week there were concerns for one of the young who had managed to get itself stranded away from the rest of the family on a balcony roof below the level of the nestbox ledge and was unable to get back up to the ledge. It survived there for about four days but on Friday was seen back up on the ledge with the rest of the family. If anyone wondered why, for most of last week, only two young were seen going into the nestbox for the nights, this was the reason. Clearly during the period of separation from the rest of the family it was well looked after by the adult birds and could often be seen up there stretching its wings.

23th June:

The three young birds seem to be spend their days now out on the ledge by the nestbox with the adult birds, returning to the box to sleep at night and for the occasional bit of food during the day, generally feeding themselves on food that has been delivered to the box by the adults.

One thing that is interesting to see is the parents taking off from the ledge, usually quite noisily, and flying round in a small circle as if showing the young what they are supposed to be doing next. They seem to do this a few times in quick succession, take a break for a while and then repeat the procedure.

17th June: Couple of new videos

Since the last video the chicks have changed quite considerably, not just in size but the white fluffy down is almost gone too. They're also starting to pick bits of food off from items brought in by their parents although the adults are still feeding them as the video below shows.

As we mentioned in the last diary entry the chicks are starting to venture outside the nestbox and beginning to build up their wing strength by flapping their wings. Sometimes they do this in the nestbox - much to the annoyance of their siblings as space becomes harder to find.

The chicks aren't ready to fly just yet, but the more strength they can build up before taking their first flights the better the chances of success.

16th June: Precarious perch...

The young birds are now venturing out of the safety of the nestbox onto the ledge outside and the time draws near for them to start their flying lessons it is perhaps an opportune moment to remind ourselves of the perilous perch that they occupy. As can be seen from this photograph it is a sheer drop of over 300 feet from the nestbox to the ground. The nestbox can be seen in the top right hand corner of the picture on the roof between the two lines of windows on the northern side of the building. If a chick falls from the building we need to find out about it quickly so that we can take it back up as we did with the female ringed 23 last year who had a few interesting days early in her life.

We believe there are a few days when the young are not strong enough to get back up to the nestbox from ground level so hope they put off going too far from the nestbox until they are strong enough to make it. Perhaps the rainbow in the background is a sign of good things to come this year...

Should any local residents find what they think is a young peregrine on the ground, they are very distinctive looking birds and not easily confused with seagull chicks!!, please either let the Society or the RSPCA know as soon as possible.

10th June: Feathers starting to show

It's now about four weeks since these three chicks hatched and they are rapidly losing their white downy appearance as feathers begin to grow. Wings are being stretched which, in the confines of the nestbox, usually means that a sibling gets knocked over!!

Very soon now they will start to venture out of the nestbox in preparation for life skills lessons from their parents.

4th June: Ringing the chicks

The ringing of the chicks took place today under the very attentive eyes of the parent birds who circled the building screeching. For a while the female swooped towards us getting closer and closer; at one point she perched on the building watching what was going on at the nestbox. This new female certainly has no fear and is incredibly protective of her offspring.

Ring number	Weight	Gender
35	870 grams (1.9 pounds)	Female
36	645 grams (1.4 pounds)	Male
37	845 grams	Female

As the table above shows, this year we appear to have two female chicks and one male chick.

3rd June: Ringing the chicks tomorrow

During Thursday June 4th the chicks will be taken from the nest box for a short time as they are going to be ringed. This will be from about 11 a.m. and we hope that it will provide an opportunity to get some photos of the chicks.

Each chick will be measured, weighed and a feather taken so their DNA can be registered. By weighing the chicks we should be able to determine the gender as the females are usually a third heavier than the males at this stage in their development.

While the chicks are being ringed the webcam is going to take a break and the updates will stop for a bit. Once the ringing has been completed it will start updating again, which we hope will be before 2 p.m.

30th May: Where are the chicks?

If you've looked in on the webcam recently you might be wondering where the chicks have gone...

The good news is that all three are still there but they have moved under the view of the camera (at the bottom of the picture). This seems to have become an annual tradition in the nestbox - as soon as the chicks start to stretch their legs and explore the box they settle down in the only spot we can't see them.

It seems that our new parents are doing a good job bringing food in for the chicks as can be seen by the large crops on the youngsters. The crop, which is located just under the neck and can be seen highlighted in the picture below, allows the chicks to eat more food than their stomachs can handle in one go so they can process it over several hours, an ideal time for another snooze.

24th May: New feeding video

We haven't had a new video since the first chick hatched so here's another showing the progress of the remaining three chicks recorded yesterday.

23th May: Fourth chick dies

The fourth and final chick to hatch lost its battle to survive on Friday.

Since hatching, the parents haven't appeared to offer the chick much food. In past years we've seen adult peregrines being very careful to make sure that each chick got their fair share of the food. It could be that they thought it better to provide the other three chicks with food as they stood a better chance of survival.

The remaining three chicks all appear to be doing well. Daily life for the chicks at the moment tends to follow a pattern of sleeping and eating - all this growing must be very tiring for them!

20th May: Fourth egg hatches!

Well this year is certainly full of surprises. We were convinced the fourth egg was going to come to nothing after all this time but a fourth chick appeared today as can be seen at the front of the picture below.

Now we have to see if it can survive amongst its considerably larger siblings...

If there is one thing that the picture does show, it's how much the 3 older chicks have grown in just under a week.

20th May: Fourth egg

The three chicks that hatched last week are growing noticeably now but the fourth egg hasn't hatched and it now looks as if it might not hatch.

We think that this is the last egg that was laid a couple of days after the adults started to incubate the first three eggs as it appeared slightly lighter in colour to the rest of the eggs.

Later today we'll post up some more pictures showing the chicks' progress.

15th May: Three chicks hatched

Yesterday proved to be a bumper day for hatches with another two chicks hatching - bringing us to 3 chicks hatched so far.

This morning we still have one egg that hasn't hatched yet, but that's not out of the ordinary as hatching can be spread out over a couple of days. In the meantime, the chicks seem to be happy using the 4th egg as a pillow.

14th May: Feeding video

Still only one chick this morning so far, but while we wait for the next chick to hatch here's a video taken of the mother feeding the first chick of the year to hatch.

13th May: First chick hatches

Today has seen the first chick hatch. At the moment the parents are spending a lot of time covering the chick and the three remaining eggs but we did manage to get this picture below of the chick.

One of the other eggs also appears to have a "pip" (or break) in it meaning that a second chick is hopefully well on the way to hatching.

23th April: Estimated hatch date

With incubation in full swing now you might be wondering when we're likely get the first hatching. Usually, we estimate that the first hatch will be around 30 days after the penultimate egg is laid as this is when they start incubating the eggs. This means we could be looking at any time from the 8th of May onwards.

As this year has already shown, things aren't always predictable so it could be a few days either side of this date. When we get closer to the hatch date we'll add another entry about the signs to look for on the camera when hatching is imminent...

12th April: Fourth egg

It caught us a little off guard but we do have a fourth egg in the box. The egg was laid at around 4p.m. on Friday (10th) afternoon.

This is almost certainly the last egg since full incubation of the eggs started after the third egg was laid.

8th April: Third egg

This morning saw the arrival of the third egg. Since then, the two adults have been spending their time incubating the eggs round the clock, suggesting that the final egg may have been laid. We should know for sure towards the end of the week if this is the final egg.

5th April: Second egg

It seems our female is very much doing things her own way this year. A bit later than predicted a second egg has been laid at around 5 p.m.

She has since been seen keeping the eggs warm and taking what looks like a well-earned sleep.

4th April: Waiting for a second egg

You might be wondering when we might see a second egg. Generally, peregrine eggs are laid at intervals of around 2.5 days so if we're lucky we might see a second egg before the light fades today.

In case you're wondering why nobody is sitting on the egg at the moment they won't start incubating the eggs fully 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. So if you see the eggs unattended for a while it shouldn't be anything to worry about.

2nd April: First egg!

We were beginning to think that this was going to be a barren year but can now report that today saw the first egg appear at about 10:30 this morning.

30th March: No sign of any eggs...

Another week has passed in the nestbox and still no sign of any eggs. As each day passes without eggs it is looking more and more likely that this will be the first year for quite some time that we have not had chicks on Sussex Heights. The birds have been behaving as if they were going to produce some young but, so far, it just hasn't happened...we'll just have to wait and see...

22nd March: Getting back to normal

After a pretty eventful week, the peregrines seem to have returned to more normal activities this weekend. The male has been spending a lot of time in the nestbox throughout Sunday, with the female coming to join him on several occasions. In the picture below the male can be seen closest to the camera, with his mate towards the far end.

They are still both working on scraping out the gravel so we are hopeful for the arrival of the first egg soon.

Since Wednesday, we've only seen the male with the black ring 15 and the unringed female. There's been no sign of the other male with the green ring 34 who caused a stir on Wednesday.

20th March: Big fight update...

...a case of mistaken identity and the return of an old friend...

Thanks to Phil Everitt of the Sussex Peregrine Study we are able to clear up some inaccuracies in our report of the fight in the nestbox.

The bird we identified as 14, a bird hatched in the box 2 years ago, is, in fact, a bird ringed with number 34 who turns out to be the old male peregrine who has been resident on Sussex Heights for the last nine or ten years.

He was found badly injured in Brighton on the 17th February and was taken by a
member of the public to the RSPCA Animal Centre at Patcham. Its injuries suggested that it had probably been in a fight with another bird.

It was given initial first-aid and then transferred to the RSPCA Mallydams Wood Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre at Hastings on the 18th February.

Thanks to RSPCA staff the bird made an excellent recovery and the Sussex Peregrine Study (SPS) were then contacted and arranged to collect the bird from Mallydams fo ringing and release on Wednesday, 18th March. We ringed the bird at Mallydams placing a BTO metal ring (GN98025) on its left leg and a green darvic ring (34) on its right leg - these can clearly be seen on these pictures. The bird was then transported to Ditchling Beacon and released it at about 1.45pm. It flew off very strongly into the wind, calling twice and made a large circuit of the immediate area before then heading off SE.

It would seem that the old resident male pretty much flew straight from Ditchling Beacon back to his old haunt on Sussex Heights where it seems he tried to reclaim his home of the last nine or ten years, without success. It is good to know that he is still alive.

Below are a couple of photos of the bird with the second showing the ring that was placed on its right leg:

18th March: Battle in the box!!

Everything seemed very innocent at about 2.15 this afternoon, four peregrines flying around the top of Sussex Heights.

Little did we know that all hell was about to break out in the nestbox. A male bird, ring number 14 who hatched in the Sussex Heights box in 2007, was in the box much to the dismay of the current female. She seemed to try to usher him out of the box but, although this seemed to succeed at first, he kept coming back until eventually a violent fight took place between the birds. Both birds seem to have survived to live another day although this didn't look a very likely outcome at one point!!

Our current male and a fourth, unidentified, bird seem to have kept a very low profile while all this was going in. The resident male and female have both subsequently been seen in the box.

WARNING: This video clip contains scenes of pretty extreme violence between two peregrines - if you are at all squeamish or likely to be upset by the sight of two birds fighting please do not watch it.

12th March: More scrape digging

Towards the end of the day the female spent quite a bit of time digging a large scrape in the middle of the box. In the picture below you can see her standing in the scrape.

As this year brings a new peregrine pairing we're not quite sure when we might see our first egg. Last year the first egg appeared on March 18th, so we could see the arrival of the first egg any day now...

8th March: Preparing the nestbox

The period leading up to the first egg involves a lot of activity in and around the nestbox.

When watching their courtship rituals it is quite easy to see that it is the female who is the dominant partner, as the video below shows, both falcons bow to one another but the male is always very careful to make sure he bows lower than the female...

The male peregrine has started to dig some scrapes in the nestbox, these scrapes are shallow holes in the gravel where eventually the female will lay her eggs:

The final position of the scrape is up to the female - if she's going to be spending the best part of 4 weeks on the eggs you can't blame her for wanting the best spot! Later during the day it seems our female might have other ideas about where she would like the scrape to be, perhaps giving her mate a hint about where to dig next...

28th February: A new male

As we start our coverage of this year's breeding on Sussex Heights it is tinged with sadness as we appear to have lost the male peregrine who has been with us for the last few years. He was an unringed bird but the male now in residence is ringed as can be seen in the following picture from the nestbox camera:

Black 15 hatched on Chichester Cathedral in 2005 and was ringed by Graham Roberts of the Sussex Ornithological Society on 27th May of that year. Graham is also responsible for ringing the Sussex Heights chicks among others. One of 4 chicks (3 males & a female). We think this is the first sighting of him since June 2005.

Something happened when we were preparing the box this year that has not happened before, the female perched on the ledge for a couple of minutes to supervise the proceedings as can be seen in the picture below:

26th February: Webcam up and running

We're please to announce that the webcam has now been switched on and can be viewed on the webcam page. Images will be regularly updated during daylight hours.

While we don't expect any eggs until mid-March both peregrines are now being much more active both in and around the nestbox.

Over the next few days we'll likely see the male peregrine working on digging a scrape for the female to lay her eggs in. But, as we've seen in previous years the final say always rests with the female!

14th February: Getting ready for a new season

It's coming up to that time of year again when we go onto the roof of Sussex Heights and put the camera back in the nestbox. If everything goes according to plan we hope to have the webcam up and running again in the last week of February, so check back soon for more news.

Being at the foot of the block we are lucky in that most days of the year we can look up and see one or both of the adult birds up by the box. On rare occasions we also see young peregrines that have briefly returned to the site, this year has been no different, on a few occasions three birds have been spotted on the roof and at one point four...