It was a little on the chilly side in the early morning with some light rain. Later in the morning rain became steadier, but temps were more mild. Winds were out of the south and were packing some strength. Those winds ushered in some migrating raptors; although none that drew the ire of the falcons. The Peregrines did their first changing of the guard at 5:30 AM. At that time it was hard to see the eggs well enough to determine if any of them were pipped, but subsequent changeovers gave us more opportunities to view them and we can confidently report that there were no pips. This means we expect no imminent hatching. However, it is day 30 of incubation and we so can’t be too far off from a hatch. Today seemed to be fairly calm and incident free, but for most of the day both Deb and I were monitoring remotely from our phones and so it’s conceivable we missed some action. Astrid did leave the nest and the eggs at around 2:00 PM, but Ares arrived and took over incubating leaving only a two-minute gap. Review of the days recordings seemed to confirm that it was a no-drama day. At 5:00 Astrid took over at the nest from Ares and presumably Ares retired early to his night perch. Heavier rain and cooler conditions helped insure an early night for the pair. Based on experience from previous years, we predict the first pip and first hatch to take place sometime on Monday or Tuesday.
