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This video is updated daily and made up of still images captured by the camera every 15 seconds on the previous day.
What’s Happening at the Nest?
The four chicks sleep sprawled out in the nest box after a recent meal.
5/10/26: The Richmond brood is now between 17 and 12 days old. The chicks seem to be keeping 59/BM and 95/AK busy based on the amount of prey items we’ve seen them deliver this past week (and subsequently the amount of feathers littering the floor of the nest box)! All of the chicks are fairly mobile and will regularly reposition themselves within the nest box, or approach the adults when a prey item is brought in. When not sleeping, the chicks can often be observed sitting upright, with pin feathers visible on the wings. The older three now have a thick layer of second down and the youngest is continuing to do well. While obviously smaller than the older siblings, it appears to be keeping pace developmentally and still getting plenty of food.
What should you expect in the next week?
Continued growth! Peregrines typically fledge between 40-44 days or so, and as such we can continue to expect the chicks to “grow like weeds” as we get closer to banding and fledging. Feather growth will also continue and we may even begin to see some facial feathers start to develop on the older chicks. Further, the brood will become more and more active as they continue to explore their surroundings and may be seen sleeping individually on warm days instead of in a pile. We might even see the first chick leave the nest box in the coming week, but if not that is almost sure to happen in the week following!
5/4/26: It’s been roughly one week since the RVA Falcon chicks hatched with the oldest chick being 11 days old and the youngest being six days old. Due to the age and size discrepancy between chicks, we’ve been closely monitoring feeding activity at the nest box and have been logging every meal delivered to the brood, whether or not the youngest chick received food, and if so, how many bites it was given. Although the chick did not receive any food on hatch day, it has been fed every day since and is developing as we would expect. And while the older chicks are often fed first at meal time due to their larger size and better ability to get the attention of their parents, we often see the younger chick fed a substantial amount of food after the other three have had their fill. There are a plethora of prey items around Richmond and as such supplying each of the offspring with the food it needs to continue developing does not seem to be a problem for the adults. This striking difference in age and size between the chicks further demonstrates how much peregrine falcons grow in the first few weeks of life.
What to expect in the coming days?
The chicks will continue to grow and are also in the process of developing a second coat of down, which will be followed shortly by the first tail and wing feathers breaking the skin. In addition to feather development, we also expect to see their muscles strengthen as they get better at sitting upright without falling over and coordinating on food pass-offs with their parents. At the moment, they are still being brooded regularly by the female to help maintain their body temperature, but this behavior will likely stop soon as well.
Both adults in the nest box with the chicks. The male (left) has a fresh prey item in his talons, while the female (right) is in the process of feeding out a different prey item to the chicks.
4/29: We have been reviewing recorded footage and are continuing to monitor the feeding status of the fourth chick. We have also been in communications with the Wildlife Center of Virginia and for now, we are continuing to see how things develop.
4/28: We are happy to report that the fourth chick has finally hatched as of approximately 9:30 AM on 4/28! Unlike it’s siblings, this chick took a significantly longer time to break free of its egg. The hatching process is incredibly energetically exhausting and in some instances, chicks can take multiple days to hatch, as we have witnessed these past few days. However, this extended hatching has now resulted in a relatively large age gap between the siblings. Chicks hatched on Falcon Cam in previous years have typically had an age spread of 0-2 days between the oldest and youngest chick, whereas this year we now have a 3.5 day spread. Nevertheless, this is not an entirely unprecedented situation for the Richmond Falcon Cam as the 2007 clutch of four chicks had a similar distribution in chick ages with all chicks ultimately making it to fledge!
The brood from 2007 with a similar age spread amongst chicks. The youngest chick is easily identifiable based on its small size relative to the others.
Although the chicks may appear wobbly and uncoordinated now, they will become much stronger and more efficient feeders over the course of the next few days as their muscles continue to develop and strengthen. Chicks weigh roughly 30-40 grams at hatch but, with regular feedings, will double in size in just 5-6 days time. The newly hatched fourth chick has a lot of catching up to do but as long as it is able to secure bites of food during meal times, we hope to see it catch up developmentally and go on to fledge.
The fourth chick just after hatching.
- Read more updates in the archive…
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The DWR Falcon Cam follows the breeding season of a peregrine falcon pair that nests in downtown Richmond, Virginia. The nest box is located atop the Riverfront Plaza building. If you’re in the area, look up! You may catch a glimpse of the famous birds! We hope each year that the pair will once again choose to nest at this site, so that our camera may provide an educational experience for all to enjoy.