L4 fledges!

The babiest of the baby buzzards at Cornell Red-tailed hawk nest has finally flown out of the nest for the first time! I took a bunch of screenshots of L4 on the night before and the morning of the fledge.

And though I don't have screenshots, looks like both Peregrine chicks I've been checking in on at Cal Falcons have also already fledged recently!

Later in the post are also screenshots of the Osprey chicks at Sääksilive nest#4, still small and a long way from fledging. (warning for a few visible fish preys in those, as well as a bout of sibling rivalry)

L4 on the power box at the end of the nest platform in the evening. Not much of the chick is visible here, but I find the lens flares pretty.

Lying down.

There you are.

L4 was very restless in the evening, and hopped back and forth on the railing, looking like it might fledge already then and there. But not yet, better have a good night's sleep in the nest, and then start exploring the world the next day, well-rested and with plenty of daylight.

Up bright and early.

Warm-up wingers.

Yes, that's a lot of closeups. Who knows how many more chances I'll get to have a close look at this cutie now. Speaking of that fledge...

Would now be the time?

Crouching for liftoff...

Wait, no! Not yet.

A few more literally last-minute wingers first.

Alright, this time for real. Ready...

Go!

Well done, L4! ❤️

Then osplet baby pics from the past five days. Comparing these first ones to the ones I just took today, they've already grown so much in just that little time! Here's older sibling N1 looking around while mom Nuppu is off the nest for a moment, with little sibling N2 at the front with its head down.

Both faces visible.

Nuppu preening, chicks sleeping. N2 left.

And now for something more dramatic: N2 starts a fight with N1!

And gets knocked over by its own momentum, then gets back up to bonk again.

Then, predictably...

...gets its butt kicked when N1 retaliates.

N2 submits, and the fight is over. A feisty osplet is a healthy, strong osplet, and chicks squabbling is normal, but what was the plan here, N2?

Still in fight mode, I suppose, N1 gets a little confused...

...and twirls around trying to bonk its own wing.

As you do.

N1's eyes are starting to get lighter. They'll be orange when the chicks are at their full size.

Huddles this morning. They're really getting big now, and growing their thicker thermal down. A bit of an awkward-looking phase in their development that I like to call the plucked velociraptor stage.

Mom and N2 looking around together.

N2 peeking out from under mom while sleeping, and using N1's butt as pillow.

A rainy feeding starting to wrap up. Dad Niilo perching on the edge of the nest, Nuppu cleaning up the rest of the fish, N1 getting ready for a nap, and N2 doing the same while having a fish scale on its head.

N1 turned two weeks old yesterday, and N2 is a week and a half. The third egg is pretty certainly not going to hatch anymore, but two osplets is plenty.

Other nests at Sääksilive also have chicks now, but I've been focusing on this one. The new pair at nest#3, Tiuku and Tuulos, have so far one 2-day-old hatchling, and Sara and Roni, who already started fixing up the LS nest last year, though didn't have chicks yet then, now have two chicks in their first clutch, both hatched the day after N2 did. Eine and Eura at nest#1 are still incubating their clutch, expected to start hatching in a couple of days now.