downtown Worcester Peregrine Falcon Chick-Closeups

I went up to Emily's office at the Unum Building in downtown Worcester today which offers direct views to the nesting platform the four Peregrine Falcon chicks are at.
When I got there I would only see one who was on a ledge and very absorbed in preening. It was funny because it still has some down feathers that would shed off as a result of the preening and you could tell he had no idea what to do with it once it was in the bill.
Emily has been trying to figure out the gender for Fish and Wildlife due to the fact that they will not be banding them this year and the one shown above could very well be a male based on the size. There are four chicks all together and three of them are tiny compared to one lone one who is the size of the parents so there is a good chance there are three males vs one female this year if you were to go on size.
The picture above is of the smallest falcon and my absolute favorite. I would see it laying like this and get all nervous but Emily told me that's how they sleep when they are this young because they still are not strong enough to sleep perched.
Soon enough I was see what she meant when he would raise his wee little head to look around for his mother and wonder what time dinner would be served this evening I am assuming.
One of the others would come close by and start squacking too. Another thing that is interesting with these chicks is how spread out they are on the nesting platform vs the ones last year who always stayed near the nest box. While the current chicks seem to be a lot calmer than last years chicks, they seem a little more independent and not afraid to explore a little more which was nice because I could get pictures of them with various buildings in downtown Worcester as a back drop vs. just the glass tower from last year.
Another one with the backdrop of the glass tower.
The mother was always close by watching for predators and I lucked out with this photo as she came flying on in and landed fairly close to where the window is.
This one appears to have developed a strong liking for its feet just like dad!
Another thing the chicks would do would be to practice walking and on the ledge no less which would be the cause of anxiety for both Emily and I because we are so afraid of them falling off of it like last year.
I think this is my favorite photo of them all because I got that monument in City Hall as the background which I thought was pretty darn cool!
And another nice urban shot that shows some of the older buildings in downtown Worcester as well as some cars.
The smallest falcon of them all discovered a pretty nifty place for lounging which was this tarp as you can see.
It would continue to squack and occasionally look up at the Fallon logo where mom was.
A good case for heart burn here, look how close they are to the ledge and they are practicing hopping and attempted flying here!
Here is one hopping. So funny to see this because I didn't see any of them doing this last year. Emily and I think they may be flying this weekend based on what we saw today.
This one is the biggest falcon chick of them all and we are guessing its the female. It decided to pick at some leftovers which you can see in the photo to the right (appears to be a head of some kind). The bird realized it didn't find it too appetizing so went onto better things.
Like playing with her brother. So cute!
I would look at the clock and it would be past 6PM at this point and couldn't believe that I was there for well over an hour because they are so much fun to look at and it would seem like 15 minutes to me.
This would be the highlight of my week and one of the highlights of the year. I want to thank Emily again for the invite as it was very much appreciated.

Take care all