KGW Audubon Raptor Cam

Three Red tail hawk chicks moments after hatching.

A pair of Red-tailed Hawks nesting outside a downtown Portland office building became parents on Wednesday afternoon, when three chicks hatched in the Red tail nest.

Slideshow: Hawk chicks at birth

Slideshow: Hawk mom feeds chicks

Since then, the adult raptors have been busy feeding the chicks with prey they've caught. The KGW / Audubon Raptor Cam showed live pictures of the tiny, wobbly chicks opening their beaks as the adults tore up pieces of food and fed the babies.

The hawks had been incubating three eggs since March in a nest visible from the Raptor Cam, a live web camera positioned 15 feet above the nest so as not to disturb the birds.

Last year, the Hawks hatched two chicks in mid-April and people from Portland and around the country were able to watch them grow until they were large enough to leave the nest. One of the two chicks survived.

This year, the Red-tail mom laid three eggs in early March.

"The process of pecking its way out of the egg can take a day or two," according to Bob Sallinger of the Audubon Society of Portland. "Chicks have a feature on their bill known as an 'egg tooth' which allows then to break through the hard shell."

KWG / Audubon Raptor Cam

Sallinger says the chicks also have a special muscle on their neck known as a “”hatching muscle” that gives them the strength to accomplish this task.

Read More on hatching process in the Raptor Blog.

The Hawks incunated the eggs for about five weeks, starting in early March. Both parents took turns in the nest, says Sallinger, with switch-offs occurring every few hours.

The babies will grow rapidly, with the parents hunting for food. The babies will develop over the next six weeks until they are large enough to attempt to fly on their own.

Live: Watch "Raptor Cam"

Slideshow: Daily images from Raptor Cam 2008

Video: All RAPTOR CAM videos