The Trump Parc kids are growing fast - Blakeman comments

Photo by Lincoln Karim
[from construction site just west of the Trump Parc]
June 14, 2005

Marie,

Lincoln on his website recently made a very cogent notation. He asked viewers to compare the size of the two Trump Parc eyasses with the remaining unhatched egg. He pointed out that the two (formerly) little ones had to fit inside an egg when they hatched. At the 927 nest the rapid growth of the eyasses has not been directly seen, at least before they got big enough to be seen above the nest edge. This time, we all get to watch how rapidly, even explosively, the young eyasses grow.

When I was conducting my captive breeding trials of red-tails, along with watching this spectacle in wild nests, I was stunned as how fast the birds grew. Look at Lincoln's photo again and note that the birds are two to three times their hatch weight or volume.

I don't believe any other vertebrate animal of equivalent size grows at such a remarkable rate. So far, the eyasses have maintained their relative shapes and proportions, so they don't appear to have grown much. But as Lincoln suggested, compare them to the size of the egg. Already, the little ones are whoppers, and they've just started their growth spurt.

This rapid growth is possible because of their food: massive amounts of proteins, sufficient lipids (fats), along with lots of calcium and other bone constituents. These birds aren't messing around with lean carbohydrates. They are eating their body weight or so each day in raw flesh. They are just beginning a rapid spurt that in 10 days or so will allow them to start standing.

Within a week new dark flight and contour feathers will start to appear, first as just dark spots. The hawks will begin to lose their down feathers, to be replaced by the emerging dark flight feathers. Right now, the little tykes are rather engaging, in the manner of soft fluffy toy bears. Soon however, they will start to look a bit ragged and rough-edged as the flight feathers of their first year begin to emerge.

Sincerely,

John A. Blakeman