I took these pictures of a falco subbuteo (Eurasian hobby) chick a couple of days ago when I helped my father with one nest. The nest was some 15 or 20 meters up a pine and normally I would not have had an opportunity to see the chicks at all without climbing up myself, but this one jumped out of the nest immediately and hopped from branch to branch until it fell the last three meters or so to the ground.
Since I had a good camera in my Samsung phone, I snapped a few pics while dad was still up the tree and put a ring on the other one before climbing down to ring this young one (and then back up to put it back in the nest). It was good thing the stump was there, it made for a perfect platform for the little gal to sit on. That falcon chick is female, a male would be substantially smaller. It's actually larger than an adult at this point.
If you look carefully, you can see the ends of the tail feathers and wing primaries poking out of all the fluffy down in some of the pics. They were already well on their way to being fully developed, the smaller feathers come in later (because there is not quite as much to grow there as in the primary feathers).
You can see some excellent pictures of an adult hobby here.
Warwolf Urban Combat Specialist
Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
SHE will rip your face off. With birds, it's usually the female that's larger and more aggressive.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Broomstick wrote:SHE will rip your face off. With birds, it's usually the female that's larger and more aggressive.
true but this little one seems to too young to tell the gender yet and it's not like male falcons are totally docile either, well I can't tell the gender yet an expert on birds of prey might be able.
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
"I think you completely missed the point of sigs. They're supposed to be completely homegrown in the fertile hydroponics lab of your mind, dried in your closet, rolled, and smoked...
Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
Re-read the OP - already determined, Edi's father actually is a bird expert.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Broomstick wrote:SHE will rip your face off. With birds, it's usually the female that's larger and more aggressive.
true but this little one seems to too young to tell the gender yet and it's not like male falcons are totally docile either, well I can't tell the gender yet an expert on birds of prey might be able.
Re-read the OP - already determined, Edi's father actually is a bird expert.
Broomstick is correct in this case, the information is in the OP. I wouldn't have been able to determine the gender of the bird either, but my father has been an amateur ornithologist for 53 years and he made the determination. "Amateur" here meaning that ornithology is his hobby instead of his profession, but you need some serious expertise to be granted the permit to ring birds in the first place. There's a battery of tests you have to pass and when you put the 53 years of experience on top of those, it's damn impressive.
According to him, a male fledgling could not have been that big, given how small this species of falcon is overall.
Warwolf Urban Combat Specialist
Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
