25 July

Our four youngsters have now been on the wing for over five weeks. In a few short weeks, their flight skills have progressed from the slow, tentative, flapping flight typical of beginners to razzle-dazzle that approaches that of the adults. A juvenile in the air is often indistinguishable from an adult, unless the observer can get a good look at plumage, or its behavior (such as food-begging from an adult) gives its age away.

Young peregrines are supposed to make their first kills after 3 or 4 weeks on the wing, so all of them probably have had that very significant experience by now. This does not mean that they are self-sufficient. It is still much easier to get a meal from an adult than to have to catch it. As time goes on, the adults will be less and less inclined to deliver meals to their offspring, but this is not an abrupt transition.

Other than having to learn to catch more of their own food, the youngsters have an easy life. They have ample time to play, and they do. They do not yet have the challenge of living around the edges of other peregrines' territories, and the adults still intercept threats such as other peregrines, red-tails, and eagles.

They are still very social. Nearly all of our reports from downtown are of more than one, whether perched near each other or swooping and diving on one another. They, of course, fly all over downtown Seattle, but often perch on or near their home cliff. Unlike some years, though, we have had very few reports of their visiting the nest ledge. We expect that they will remain downtown for several more weeks and gradually disperse.

9 July

Toward the end of their second week on the wing, the unseasonably warm weather cooled and grayed to normal June weather; with cooler temperatures, brisk breezes, and their increasing maturity, they became more active and more adventurous. They no longer stayed clumped on the lower buildings very close to their home cliff. By the end of last week, they became more difficult to locate, as they explored new parts of downtown Seattle. When they were in sight, they often delighted their human observers with lots of chasing, swooping, and other aerial acrobatics. Since they pursued their parents with more speed and persistence, the adults also were harder to find.

Some of their fledgling behaviors will carry over into later life, in different contexts. Now, they food beg when they want an adult to feed them. Food begging is a behavior adults use, also. Adult females beg from their mates during courtship and nesting. Adult males often beg from their mates in the off season, when the larger, dominant female has food, and the male wants some of it. Stewart and Bell enact this domestic mini-drama on balconies, roofs and window ledges every winter.

The fledglings spend hours in mock combat. Although none of us can know what it feels like to be a peregrine, few human observers can watch them and not suspect that they are having fun. But the flight skills they learn now in their innocence will enable them to survive once they are independent. Playfulness will be a forgotten luxury. Speed and agility in flight will be essential for catching prey. Survivors will display with some of the same aerial maneuvers during courtship. Mock combat will be a thing of the past; it will be deadly serious, for self defense and for attaining and holding territory.

Meanwhile, they have a lot to learn. Though they still believe feathered meals are delivered by a parent, they have the instinct to chase flying birds, and the instinct to bite the neck of a bird they catch. Soon, perhaps this week or the next, each one will chase a bird, probably a pigeon, and actually catch it. Then, if it manages to hold on to its prize, it will take it to a flat place, hold it down, and bite the back of the neck
to dispatch it. Then, it will eat. It will have made its first kill and learned that flying birds are food! What a huge milestone in the life of a peregrine!