All chicks getting masked
October 27, 2016 Shepnotes
I see all 3 eye masks have appeared.
7.30 pm Diamond feeding
Evenings look so peaceful. Xavier's appearances and disappearances remind me of cartoons. zzzzzzzzzzip in ... and ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzip out! Remember how Travis gave his unique *hop!* leaving? Xavier does that.
Guesses on sexes -
The males feather out first. Soon we will see if lil Vim is a male.
The females tend to remain whiter longer, and are always FIRST for the food! We will watch Rubi. It always seems I wake one morning and one of their breasts is spotted with brown. It always seems sudden.
Good progress in the eyriePublished 27 October, 2016 | By Cilla Kinross
Chicks are progressing well; sometimes the prey items have still left them hungry and then along comes another fat galah or similar to fill them up. Quill feathers are showing and even a little bit of tail.
They are very active, with lots of wing flapping now and often come close to the ledge. I wouldn?t fret too much about that. We?ve only had one chick go over the ledge in nine years and that was a chick asleep very close to the ledge during a bad storm and he pretty much fell or was blown out (and never recovered) about five days prior to fledging. They seem to have a good instinct about these things and there?s little chance of rock climbers here!
Not sure about the gender yet ? actually quite tricky. When banders are determining sex, they take measurements to be sure, but we can?t really do that. That?s because although females are larger when adult, males can develop more quickly. Within a week though the females should be looking a bit bigger. And when they all sit lined up on the ledge, it can be helpful.
I estimate that first flight could be any time from 11th November. Last year the male went off quickly (and strongly), followed by one of the females, with the sister waiting another couple of days. All had exceptionally good first flights, so let?s hope that is the case this year, too.
http://www.gumtreecs.com.au/wordpress/g ... -the-eyrie