Today has been an unusual day for food supply – 3 feeds before 8.30am and then a few hours before either adult returned with anything else. Consequently all three eyases have spent the day flexing wings and legs, chasing bones, pulverising feathers, dashing to each end of the eyrie and making the most of any adult attention they can grab. Late in the afternoon more food arrived but rather than chance her luck in carving it up Swift left the eyases to it and they’re busy attacking it! Not so much competitive with each other as just making sure they get their fair share. There’s a growing opinion that one of the eyases is indeed slightly smaller and more timid than the other two, and seems to be a day or so behind in feathers and development – females and a male?
It’s also been interesting analysing last year’s footage to see at what stage single child Solo was at this same age (hatched 6th October, as did the 3rd chick this season). It appears having siblings around keeps the learning curve steep and the hunger keen.
Videos for today – a dry run by Swift (audio), and madness with eyases …
Loved the videos, especially “madness with eyases”! They sure are a busy bunch of kids! Reminds me a bit of my Kinderchicklets over here in Winnipeg, Canada! LOL!
Hi Kathy, Carly, Anne-Marie et al,
and hullo to the Kinderchicklets – hope you’re all behaving! Glad you’re enjoying the crazy young birds – that’s what happens when you put young children in a confined space! Glad their new names work; it gives them relevance to the local region, and if current guesswork is correct, naming the smallest eyas (i.e. male?) “Byng” sounds phonetically appropriate too! Only another 2 weeks or so before they fledge and begin their noisy racket out in the trees. Hopefully this year they won’t just fly off like Solo did last year for 5 days because we have lots of VIP visitors heading this way. Stay tuned for announcements about a visit from our great friends at the RAAF Beaufighter Association (really looking forward to seeing them!), as well as a fund-raising BBQ breakfast on campus with pancakes, bacon, eggs, TV cameras and more VIPs! Next Wednesday afternoon we’re also giving a presentation on campus as part of the CSU Nguluway staff conference; by the end of the 1.5 hours we’ll have their heads crammed with peregrine falcons!
Keep watching…
Scott