Sometime during the overnight hours, the second hatch of the 2015 breeding season happened. On Sunday we suspected a hatch was imminent since a pip had finally been confirmed on one of the 3 remaining eggs and muffled calls were being heard from the chick inside. It’s hard to tell what happens at night in the box given the lack of light, but during a 3:42 AM feeding, the form of a second chick was picked out. By 5:00 AM it was only too clear that there were now 2 chicks! A second feeding took place at 6:10 AM.
AWESOME!! ONE QUESTION: ARE PEREGRINE FALCON MOMS SUBJECT TO THIS EXTREME HEAT IN THE NEST IN THE WILD??? ASTRID IS PANTING AND LOOKING UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN THE AFTERNOON SUN SHINES ON HER. I’M CONCERN FOR HER WELLBEING.
Peregrine Falcons and birds in general are able to regulate their body temperature quite effectively and better than most mammals. It’s safe to say that Astrid is not delighted about the heat, but I think that it looks worse than it really is. The panting that you’re seeing is not unusual, and it’s not harmful. It’s true that cities tend to be warmer than the mountainous areas where Peregrines typically breed in the wild, but what they experience in Utica in spring is well within their tolerance levels. After all, we know that this species successfully breeds in many other cities which tend to be a lot warmer than Utica.
I haven’t been keeping tabs as closely as I used to when our company was located on the 16th floor of the Adirondack Bank so I was excited to see this news. I used to enjoy looking out our studio window at the mating rituals, the magnificent flights and then checking out the nest cam. Happy to see the new season and new hatchlings…