Very odd happenings this morning. If anyone witnessed the actual breaking of the egg, please comment. For now, it appears that the egg was not viable and Mom got rid of contents. The chick that was already in the nest, got wet somehow, maybe from egg bursting? Here is video captured by Mary Anne. Also, if you want to keep up with all activity when there are no new postings, watch Twitter feed on the right side of this site. You will see chat between Skygirlblue and me when I am out and about. She is on top of things many times when I am not!
8 comments:
Awesome, Liz! Thanks for the post!
Sunday, 26 May 2013 - 7:26AM a parent was trying to help 2nd chick out of egg - 8:27AM there is another empty egg so the 2nd chick must have hatched. Then later on in the day on the blog I read that the egg was not viable and Mom got rid of contents. I also noticed that father seems clueless a lot of the time, not keeping eggs warm, not careful about crushing eggs, or chick, while reaching for a bug, leaving the nest before the Mother gets back, etc.
How sad :( I wasn't on early enough to really see what happened but I am wondering if this egg wasn't viable, never fertilized. I've also noticed that the father peregrine doesn't seem to be to concerned about his offspring and also seems leary of Mom. I wonder too since just looking at the baby if the down that is missing isn't due to the rough handling of Mom? She doesn't seem to careful with that poor little thing. Anyone else wonder the same?
After watching on and off all day I just have a few observations.
RE: Dad...I watch a lot of falcon Cams and this dad behaves much the same as other males I watch. Male involvement has a lot to do with personality, maturity and the dominance of the female. Right after the chick hatched, the male was a tad more active, but the female let it be known that she was the boss. Early on, Dad wanted to feed the chick and mom wouldn't allow him, so he's backed off some. Some males are assertive and will stand up more to the females. So far I haven't seen this male do that I hope this changes. Ideally, the male's role right now is to keep the cache or pantry stocked and to protect the baby when mom is gone. He's doing the latter..not sure he's keeping the cache filled..temps are warm during the day, so there's really no need for him to brood. He is very cute, though!!!
RE: Chick. As best as I can tell, the chick is fine and not missing feathers. The right side of its body must be coated with a sticky goo from the insides of the egg that collapsed. It has the appearance of missing feathers..but they are there, just gooped together. I have no idea how long they will stay like that. we have a few more days before the second layer of down comes in. The chick appears to be eating well and after several feeds today, its crop looked like had swallowed a ping-pong ball...which is good!!
RE: the "egg"..JE, thanks so much for your early observations. Obviously, I got there too late to see how this started. My guess is this egg was either not viable or the chick had died early into incubation. Either way, it appears mom consumed whatever contents were in the egg which is fairly normal. It's a great source of nutrition and a good way to recycle..sad for us, however. I have to wonder if this was the egg that mom would leave out on those few occasions. Maybe it was damaged, she knew it, but we didn't? About parents helping chicks out of the eggs..something I have learned over the years is that parents do not do this and for good reason. The chick is still attached to the membrane by its umbilical cord. Its fine if the parent pulls the top off the egg, but if it pulls the chick out or the shell away from the chick too soon, then the chick could hemorrhage. I've only seen this happen once and the chick died. JE, did you actually see a chick inside the egg?
Well, the above are my "2 cents worth". Apologies for rambling on and on.
Here is a good resource on chick development..(I'm not sure links work here..you may have to copy/paste)
http://falcoperegrinus-froona.blogspot.com/search/label/Eyases%20from%20day%20to%20day
I appreciate all the comments! Thank you. It seems so long since the first hatch. Gets me worried. But when I look back at when the eggs appeared, it was a fairly long week. First: 4/12 Second: 4/15 Third: 4/17 Fourth: 4/20. If the egg that broke was #2 we should have a hatch tomorrow. Hopefully. First hatch was four days ago.
5/27...and Happy Memorial Day
One egg appears to have pips. I only got a very brief look at it. Let's hope this will turn into a hatch (unless I really didn't see pips, and then a hatch would be difficult..LOL)
5/27-Feed started around 11:11 am...mom is blocking, so I can't see...
I just opened the cam..and a feed in progress...1:51 pm nest time
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