Sixteen stories above the ground, this is the first view of one of the young peregrines! Two babies have been sighted, however, the younger one is not yet capable of getting up to join its sibling...yet.
The older baby is testing out his/her wings and clearly getting ready for flight. However, the wings and tail are only about two-thirds of the way grown in. In order to maneuver around the buildings, and navigate the winds, updrafts, etc., this juvenile will need a fully-grown set of remiges (wing feathers) and retrices (tail feathers). Mother Nature helps out in this area, and gives young raptors a set of feathers which are actually LONGER than that of their parents. Every extra square inch of flight surface will help in the coming weeks.
You can see that this baby's head is still covered in white, downy feathers. Soon, almost all of that will disappear, as the long wing and tail feathers grow to full length. The plumage of the juvenile peregrines differs from that of the parents; their wings and tails are brown, with cream and brown striped breasts and bellies. The "cere" or the skin which connects the beak to the face, is also a pale, bluish-gray, along with the orbital ring, which is the bare skin around their large, dark eyes. The adult falcons have bright yellow ceres and orbital rings. This youngster seems to be in a hurry to grow up, for sure!
18 июн 2024
