Thursday, April 30 – First Hatch of the Season & Possibly a Second Egg is Pipped

Astrid spent Wednesday night on the eggs. It was a relatively cool night with some rain. We were expecting a hatch to happen at some time during the night but knew it would be hard to detect in the dark. Ares came to the nest a 1:06 AM with a small prey item. Astrid took it from him and for a minute looked like she was going to attempt to feed the eggs with it, but instead she put the food in with the eggs and brooded it. She was jostling the eggs periodically – obviously trying to help a chick in its efforts to break out of its shell. At 4:04 Ares was back to the box with more food. That time she sent him away without taking his offering. He was back only a minute later and with the same food. She sent him out again. Not one to give up easily, Ares screeched to the box with a different prey item at 4:18. Once again, Astrid was not interested and sent him packing. At 5:30 AM it was light enough in the box to discern broken eggshell pieces on the floor in front of Astrid. Obviously, a chick hatched at some point during the early morning hours – most likely between 3:00 and 5 AM. The new chick was white and dry and apparently had hatched at least a few hours before. Ares came back to the box at 5:40. We think he was interested in seeing the new chick, but Astrid sent him on the way again. At 5:45 we saw Astrid eating some shell pieces.
At 6:11 AM, Astrid was calling again. She saw Ares flying through the canyon and we heard him screech. He came to the box, hopped in and tried to muscle Astrid out. It worked! He pried her off the eggs and she left the box. He looked incredulously at the new chick for a little while and then noticed the prey item Astrid had placed in the middle of the brood. He picked at it a few times before trying his hand at brooding. Of course, his object was to cover the chick and all three eggs at the same time. Easier said than done. He got onto some of the clutch but was leaving a couple of eggs out in the cold. Fortunately, he adjusted a few more times and ended up covering everything. Astrid came back at 6:30 and Ares got out of her way. At 6:40 Ares came to the box with food. She didn’t want it and he was out, but then back again four minutes later and out again. At 7:30 we saw the first feeding of the new chick. We got a good look at the eggs at that point and no other eggs had obvious pips in them.
At 9:39 we heard Ares screeching somewhere in the canyon. Astrid called back to him. He came to the box at 10:56. Astrid wasn’t inviting him in, so he hopped over to the east veranda. Astrid was shuffling the eggs fairly frequently. She was trying to induce another chick to hatch. At 12:21 PM Ares came to the box with food. Astrid accepted it from him and flew off. Ares’ attempts to brood the three eggs and the nestling again were not inspiring confidence. However, after a couple of minutes he seemed to be getting the knack. Astrid was back within a few minutes and quickly took over the show. At 1:37 Ares flew to the box and asked for a turn with the eggs and chick. Again, he was very assertive and practically pried Astrid off the brood. She got up and flew off, thus ceding the nest to him. We noticed that he had a large crop, so he must’ve been feeding on something somewhere. She was back at the nest at 2:49 (only two minutes after she had left). She kicked him out and took over brooding. He brought another prey item to the box at 2:49 PM. She wasn’t interested and sent him away.
At around 2:55 we may have detected a pip in one of the three remaining eggs – or maybe it was just a spot. Ares was screeching through the canyon at 3:30. Astrid called back even while she was jostling eggs. He was at the box at 3:52 and he relieved Astrid. It took him a few minutes to figure out brooding, but he got it – right before Astrid raided the party and took over. Ares brought more food at 4:47. Astrid took it from him and did a short feeding before taking the leftovers away and presumably storing them someplace. Ares was back to the box while she was out. While the eggs were uncovered it looked like one of the remaining three was pipped, but we still weren’t positive. Rain was falling steadily by late afternoon and activity in falcon town became very subdued. Astrid stayed tight on the clutch through the evening and didn’t give us any opportunities to view the eggs. It that was indeed a pip we saw this afternoon we may have another hatch sometime tomorrow. We shall see. Goodnight all.