A pair of peregrine falcons has successfully incubated their eggs through May’s wild weather along the St. Croix, and three chicks hatched on or around June 7. The parents sat on the nest through cold and rainy nights, and hot and humid days.
A livestream of the nest box on on Xcel Energy’s King Plant in Bayport let virtual voyeurs witness their day-to-day development. A peregrine chick, called an eyas, eats a lot — in six days, it doubles its weight, and at three weeks, are ten times their size at birth, according to Defenders of Wildlife.
The birds are usually capable of weak flight beginning about 40 days after hatching.
Here are a few moments from life on the nest:
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