Today, 4 days earlier than the first day of our declared “hatch window” (May 6 – 13), we saw what we thought could be a pipped egg. A small roundish white mark near the top of one of the eggs might in fact be a pip. A pip is created when the chick inside the egg begins to break out of the shell from the inside. We still need to search through our archival footage to see if the spot was already on the egg and is just a blemish on the shell. This is the most likely answer, but we should stay alert, just in case. At the very least this will be a good dress rehearsal for late this week when the real thing is more apt to happen.
I enlarged the picture and lightened it to see the white spot. The white spot might be worn enamel from pushing the eggs around on the stones, but just below the white spot looks like a slight crack but not deep. There are also wavy lines on both eggs, assuming a position of a hatching any time or day of course. I am Very excited to witness their everyday activity.
On April 21, I witnessed them spending time together in the box sharing birdie kisses before they took turns sitting on the eggs. Please share again, if you can locate it. Thanks- great job..
Nice comment! Upon examining the pictures and video we also concluded that the spot was most definitely not a pip. Of course now we expect the real thing to be appearing any day or hour now. Stay tuned!
I just witnessed a shift change about half an hour ago, and I really think I did see a pip, and maybe even a crack.
I take it back. I just realized I could go back and look, and now I don’t think I saw anything more than the same blemish you were talking about a few days ago. So no need to publish my comment.
We think there may be a legitimate pip, but we need to confirm it. We’re waiting for Ares to shift again so we can get a better look.