A brood of five Kestrel chicks was ringed yesterday at a site in Duhallow. John Lusby, Raptor Officer with BirdWatch Ireland, was able to retrieve the chicks from their nest in a long shaft set into a cliff face.
John temporarily removes the chicks from the nest (M.O'Clery).
The five chicks (M.O'Clery).
Kestrel eggs are laid a day or two apart, and they hatch at a similar rate, so the ages of these chicks vary from about 11 days to around 18 days old. Each of these chicks had very full looking pot-bellies (you can see this on the centre bird), and were all at healthy weights for their ages, so seem to be faring well. Brood sizes are typically four to five eggs, occasionally six.
