Chicks growing in size — and wisdom?

Side-by-side in apparent harmony.

In the month since my last post the two peachicks have gained considerable size but they continue to shadow Ms. Bird (sometimes she seems to be following them).

We suspect that size is important to safety, as there is a hawk in the neighborhood. Recently Ms. Bird honked frantically, and noisily flew to a rooftop, apparently upset that the hawk had swooped past. I saw the hawk but of course there was nothing I could do to help but clap my hands fast and loud to shoo it off.

With the hawk apparently out of sight Ms. Bird hopped down from the roof and began looking for her chicks, who had taken shelter under a bush. With her clucking and the chicks peeping the little family eventually homed in on one another.

Days later we saw the hawk take a mourning dove (a bird the size of a pigeon). It had no difficulty whatsoever in carrying off its prize.

It's a dangerous world out there.