Hello:

I think I can clear up the confusion.
The young hatched on May 10. The nestling period - from hatch to fledge (first flight) - is roughly 6 weeks. The smaller males develop faster and usually fledge a little earlier than the the larger females.
The chicks are a little over 3 1/2 weeks old. They now have enough strength and coordination to walk, hop, and flap their wings without falling face forward (at least most of the time). They first left the nest box on Tuesday, but had not gone more than a few feet from it until today. They're not yet able to race up and down the ledge, wildly flapping their wings, as they will later, but they're able to walk around and explore. The camera doesn't cover the whole ledge, so they won't be in view at times.
But, it's worth checking the web a little more often to see them change. During the first half of the nestling period, they attain their full body size; during the second half, they grow feathers. It's an amazing transformation - their appearance literally changes from day to day as they become fully feathered.

Ruth Taylor
rutht at seanet.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Tucker, Trileigh <TRI at seattleu.edu>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 03, 2004 6:40 PM
Subject: WaMu peregrine chick update?


Hello Tweets,
I've been happily watching the young falcons via the FRG's live-feed webcam for the past few weeks. Then I just checked tonight, and instead of four young there's just one. I checked the "spring update" section of the FRG website and the last entry is 21 May. Did they all fledge? Do we know that they're all OK?

Thanks so much for whatever reassurance you can offer :-)
Trileigh Tucker
Lincoln Park, West Seattle