The Terminal Tower falcon chicks will be banded by the Ohio Division of Wildlife on Tuesday, May 13 - and the chicks need names. Put your thinking caps on and send your ideas for names as soon as possible to raptors@optonline.net Keep in mind when thinking of names that these cute little chicks will soon grow to be fierce predators, the fastest creatures on earth. Also, keep in mind that we will not know their sex until after they are examined on banding day.
Have you noticed that the chicks are moving around the nest? They are able to "walk" on their tarsi (heel bones) now. Look for them to begin to walk on their toes soon, as adult birds do.
Mr. Harvey Webster, director of wildlife resources with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, explains:
“A useful feature found in many species of birds (for when your eyes are bigger than your stomach) is a crop – a thin walled sac off the esophagus. Even after the stomach is filled during a meal, the bird can continue to eat. The extra food is stored in the crop. Then as the food in the stomach is digested, the food in the crop is moved to the stomach. This is particularly apparent in the downy young Peregrines. After a feeding by the parents the crops of the chicks will bulge outward just above their chests.
This is time of extraordinary growth for the chicks. They have voracious appetites. As an example, when we were raising young Bald Eagles at the Museum’s Perkins Wildlife Center, we would typically offer the chicks 10% of their body weight in food at each feeding and feed them on average 5 times per day. In the first two weeks of their life the chicks would have a net daily weight gain of 20%, doubling their weight every 5 days! That extraordinary increase in size diminishes after 2-3 weeks. A similar growth rate is seen in Peregrine Falcons”.
Both SW are busy hunting for their hungry eyases.
In the following picture, notice the "crop" on the chick's neck, which is full of food.
The eyases are growing at an incredible rate. Scott Wright, volunteer peregrine falcon nest monitor, reports: "Among the young falcons, competition for food can be just like with any children, with pushing and shoving to get to the parent with food. I have seen one young falcon take the food right out of another's beak if they did not get it down fast enough, or the piece of food placed into the open beak was too big for the chick to eat”.
Send your ideas for names no later than Sunday, May 11 to raptors@optonline.net for final selection by the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Our thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for sponsoring the FalconCams and for the FalconCam still.
Photos are courtesy of Scott Wright, volunteer peregrine nest monitor. They may be used by children for school and/or personal projects, but please give Mr. Wright photo credit. All others must contact Mr. Wright directly for permission to use his photos.
