Parliament April 28th - Wet!

 

Not great weather it has to be said last Sunday at dawn.

I had deliberately timed this visit to the end of the month, to see where we were at this stage - eggs or chicks?

As you are probably aware, the weather was awful all morning, with the heavy rain I was in position at 6.00a.m, to be honest I was not expecting too much activity, I thought they would likely wait the rain out and then become active. However, hunger is a great motivator, and the first signs of life came at 7.02a.m, when the immature Tiercel appeared from the south side of Victoria Tower and flew straight to the nest balcony, looking down and screaming at the incubating bird below.

Yes, the immature is still with us and it remains to be seen, will he be a help, or a hindrance at breeding, we will see, I have had this in the past with long staying immatures becoming a nuisance, (Battersea Power Station) stealing prey, that is meant for the chicks.

However, from what I saw during the course of the morning, it seems he knows his place in the scheme of things.

At 7.38a.m the Falcon appeared from the other side of Victoria Tower with partial prey, she had obviously had a good feed, it also meant that the adult Tiercel was incubating. When the immature had landed on the balcony wall, just after 7, he was looking down at the Tray, so now fairly sure they are in the Tray instead of the old nest box sitting on the Balcony floor.

After caching the prey, the Falcon flew to the balcony parapet wall and sure enough, the Tiercel then appeared, she then dropped down to take over incubation.
The fact that she didn't take prey down to the Tray, and having obviously been away a while feeding herself, possibly points to eggs still, I intend to have another watch next week.

Alternatively, it is also possible that she had fed them prior to my arrival in semi-darkness, flew off with the prey remains, fed herself and the Tiercel took over incubation as soon as she left and fed.
After she resumed incubation, the Tiercel had a brief feed before relinquishing the prey to the immature.

                                                                         Immature

                                                      A very wet Falcon with prey remains

                                                             Waiting for Tiercel to shift

                                                                     Nest Relief

                                                         Tiercel feeding on Falcon prey

                                                                       Immature

                                                 Tiercel waiting for immature to claim prey

                                                           Prey claimed by immature

So, it looks like the immature may know his place in the pecking order, he was watching and calling all the time and didn't try and take the prey whilst it was unguarded, until the Tiercel released it to him.

Still not sure as of Sunday if eggs or chicks, further visits are needed.