The eyasses are starting to look spiffy! Well the oldest one is, but its siblings aren’t that far behind.

The parents have changed behavior now that the eyasses are older, just like last year. Both parents are now comfortable leaving the nest area for long periods of time, and yesterday food was brought to the nest, taken away and then brought back to the nest. I saw this last year just before the eyasses fledged.

The only thing I haven’t seen yet is the father bringing sparrows rather than pigeons. Last year, he switched from bringing dressed pigeons to bringing each eyass its own sparrow just before the eyasses fledged.

When you look at the three eyasses, you’ll see different quantities of down and different tail lengths. Using these two factors, you can guess as to who was born first, second and third.

Like last year, we went from eyasses inside the tower to eyasses on the ledge to eyasses perching on cables, before they fledged. Today, I was an eyass perching on a cable. The older ones look much more mature then on my last visit a few days ago.

Two were fed around 5:15 today. The late afternoon, say 4:30 to 6:00 pm seems like a good time to see activity.

The Peregrine Falcon eyasses (chicks) can still hide in the tower, but with some patience you can usually see all three of them in late afternoon and early evening. (See my post from last year, Viewing Tips for the 86th and West End Avenue Peregrine Falcons for a map and advice on how to watch the eyrie.)

The video and photos are from Monday afternoon and evening. When I arrived the mother was feeding two of the eyasses. The parents stayed away from the nest until late in the evening after dusk when the father made a quick visit to check on the young ones. The mother who we hadn’t seen for over an hour returned and was eating a pigeon after 8:30 p.m.

This schedule didn’t match previous days. As the eyasses get older they are fed bigger meals, less often. This might be the explanation for why the schedule changed.

While others have seen all three eyasses, today was my first time to see them. I was there mid-afternoon, before the usual evening feeding. On eyass cried for food, but was ignored by the parents. I’m sure it is being well fed. But it just wanted to beg!

This afternoon my visit to the 86th and West End Peregrine Falcon eyrie had an eyass sleeping on the eastern ledge of the church tower, with both parents keeping watch from a nearby building. For the most part the eyass was asleep, but it woke up as the parents started hunting.

After the thunderstorm on Friday evening one of the eyasses went out on the western ledge of the church tower, followed later by the adult male. With the eyasses making more and more visits to the ledges, if you’re patient, now would be a good time to start visiting the nest.

Based on the observations of others, it looks like there are no more than three eyasses this year.