Five Grandbabies

Dori and five chicks, 23 April 2014 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)

Some of you feel bad for Dorothy at the Cathedral of Learning because she has only one non-viable egg this year but consider this:  She has five peregrine grandbabies a few miles away at the Gulf Tower.

Can you count five pink beaks in the photo above?  They’re all there.

Dori and Louie’s fifth and final egg hatched yesterday in the 10 o’clock hour.  Since Louie is Dorothy’s son (by her first mate, Erie) those five nestlings are Dorothy’s grandkids.  Louie himself hatched in 2002, the very first year Dorothy fledged young, and is the only one of his hatch year known to nest.*

The Gulfcam video archives are spotty so I’ve made a slideshow of yesterday’s highlights. 

  • 8:20am:  The chick inside the final egg has made great progress pecking around the “equator.”
  • 9:34am:  Off camera Louie calls as he arrives with food. Dori replies, steps away and returns to feed 4 chicks.  Chick #5 has not officially hatched yet.
  • 10:54am: Chick #5 is damp and propped in front when Louie comes to feed them.  He looks up at the building.  Perhaps he heard a sound inside.
  • 10:56am: After only two minutes Dori returns to take over the feeding.  Bye, Louie.
  • 13:40 (1:40pm to 1:57pm): Louie broods the nestlings for nearly 20 minutes.  Notice how he fills less of the camera frame than Dori does.
  • 16:16 (4:16pm):  Dori offers this prey item again because they didn’t finish it last time.  Eat up, kids!
  • 19:28 (7:28pm to 7:39pm):  Last feeding of the day. Sunset is only a half hour away.  After they’ve eaten Louie stops by to say goodnight, bending over the chicks to watch them sleep.

Click here to watch the “grandkids” on the Gulfcam.

(snapshots from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)

* Yesterday Ann Hohn at Make-A-Wish read Louie’s bands, so both Dori and Louie are confirmed at the nest this year.

9 thoughts on “Five Grandbabies

  1. Thanks for sharing this video. It was great to watch and see that all 5 eggs hatched. I was worried when I saw her picking and eating at a shell in the morning and couldn’t see a 5th one yet. It also makes me feel better to know that these are Dorothy’s grandbabies. I have really learned a lot about wildlife through these cams. Thanks again for providing this information.

  2. Kate, is not the female Beauty in Rochester one of Dorothy’s off spring also? She has laid 4 eggs this year, and if all hatch that would bring Dorothy’s grand babies to 9.

  3. What about Belle? How is she doing, and will her eggs hatch? I believe she’s on Facebook, but I’m not, so…

    1. Janet, Belle is healing nicely as far as I have read. A 3rd falcon — an immature — showed up at the nest for 5 minutes on 4/22 but left without a fight. Other than that, no news is good news.
      You don’t need to be a Facebook user to see most of the Toledo Peregrine page because it’s public. Click on this link to see it. https://www.facebook.com/Peregrineproject

  4. Kate, I know you said that the 5th egg hatched on 4/24 but last night it looked like the chicks were huddled around an egg & this morning there is a broken egg shell showing on the camera. I only caught a glimpse last night as Dori wasn’t huddled over the chicks but when they moved as she came up to lay on them for the night I saw a bit of red or brown which would have been the egg.

    1. Joann, all 5 eggs hatched. Observers at Make-a-Wish confirmed the fifth chick. Also, the photos of the tiny wet chick on 4/23 indicate a new hatchling. The egg is just a leftover shell that Dori sweeps from place to place with her tail.

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