Perfect score

If you have read this blog for some time, you might remember “our” kestrels Isabella and Ferdinand from one of the earlier posts. Last year it seemed they tried to nest on the building near to our apartment, but they did not succeed. However, this year the kestrels tried again! Of course, I have no clue, whether it was Isabella and Ferdinand again, but I would like to think it was them. And their persistence paid off!

This time they moved themselves several buildings down the street and it was my wife who first spotted the chicks, when they started to peek out of the nest enough to be visible from the street (the nest was about 8-10 metres high). Back then they looked like someone tried to glue some feathers on them but failed miserably.

However, just couple of days later, they started to look more like actual birds…

And that was completely thanks to the tireless effort of their parents, which returned every 30-40 minutes with something to eat. The younglings always spotted their parent coming back from afar and did their best to let them know how famished they were (that actually helped me to photograph the landings, because the chicks gave me a few seconds of fairly loud heads up).

What was on the menu? Usually just a poor little mouse, which did not last for long…

So, the parents had to keep them coming.

And coming…

They always stayed briefly and then went back hunting. Well, one can’t help but really admire their determination.

But it seemed to really pay off! All of their four chicks prospered and grew really well.

Soon the nest became too small for the younglings, so they started to climb around to get some exercise.

Until they finally left the nest altogether. As young teenagers, not completely independent from their parents yet, but strong and healthy enough to soon make living for themselves. All of the four chicks made it to this stage, which is really something! Four out of four! If the parents were really Isabella and Ferdinand, the made up for last year’s failure with a perfect score this year!

Probably even the chicks were surprised by that.