In the coming week they will fly from ledges that cannot be seen on camera. Chicks beg loudly and snatch incoming food from parents. Parents perch out of reach above the nest. Chicks “ledge walk” off camera and might not return to the nest at night. (All primary and secondary feathers still blood-rooted and growing.) Chicks now perch and flap wings for exercise. The youngest chick is obvious because it has more down. Face is pronounced.Īt 35 Days (5 weeks): Chicks are brown and cream colored with some down patches on wings, on top of head and on “pantaloon” legs. 28 day old chicks, (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)Īt 30 days: Half down, half feathers. In the week ahead their feathers will grow rapidly, pushing out the down which they will pick off as they preen. Chicks have not left the nest surface yet. Chicks open wings and run across gravel surface. Wings look longer and fuller as wing feathers grow. Body contour and back feathers visible.Īt 27 days: Regularly walks on feet rather than tarsi.Īt 28 Days (4 weeks): Body feathers give the chicks a speckly look that camouflages them on the nest. 21 day old chicks, (photo fromthe National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)Īt 25 days: Begins to stand and walk on feet, still rests on tarsi. Often sleep individually instead of in a pile. Gets a “face.”Īt 21 Days (3 weeks): (Camera is zoomed out because chicks are very active.) Feathers now define the face, feather tips quite noticeable on wings and tail. All primaries emerged from sheaths.Īt 20 Days: Heavy down. 14 day old chicks, (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)Īt 15 Days: Sits upright, alert. Chicks move off nest scrape and walk around on tarsi, sleep and eat. Pin feathers begin to emerge at wing tips and tail (might not be visible on camera). After Day 13 can age the chick based on length of rectrices which emerge 2 mm/ day.Īt 14 Days (2 weeks): Second down is long and fluffy. Rectrices (tail) feathers begin.Īt 12 Days: Ear is distinct. Primary (wing) feathers begin.Īt 10 Days: Second down complete. 7 day old chicks, (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)Īt 8 Days: Second down begins on spinal tract. No second down yet.Īt 6 days: Second down begins on wings (humeral and alar tracts, dorsal surface of wing).Īt 7 Days (1 week): Second down begins on abdomen and legs (femoral and crural tracts), chicks form a huddle in the nest scrape, can sit up but still wobbly. First hatchling at Gulf Tower, 2011 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam)Īt 5 days: Weight has doubled since hatch day, sits up, open eye is round. Here are illustrations of their weekly development using photos of peregrines at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning and the Gulf Tower in Downtown Pittsburgh.Īt Hatching: 35-40 grams, feeble, damp, pink, sparse down, eyes closed except when begging, open eye is slit-like. Peregrine falcon chicks change rapidly as they grow from hatch to fledge in approximately 40 days.
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