Is the 4th Egg Still Viable?

Over the past 2 days a number of people have pointed out the apparent pip in the 4th egg. It’s a neat round spot and very pip-like, but more likely it’s just a superficial stain on the eggshell. It’s probably a dab of falcon droppings or what we refer to in polite birding circles as “whitewash”. As for the remaining egg, we’ve now moved beyond its likely hatch window. This means that 3 youngsters will constitute this season’s entire clutch – same as last year. Again, assuming there is no 4th hatch, we can expect that the parents will continue to incubate the egg for another week or so – in other words, way past any reasonable chance of its viability.

Peregrine 5 14 15 15
Ares brings a meal up to the nest box and Astrid impatiently accepts it
Peregrine 5 14 15 28
Astrid feeds the 3 nestlings – the unhatched egg is in the center of the clutch

 

3 thoughts on “Is the 4th Egg Still Viable?”

  1. Hi Matt,
    This has been amazing!
    My only question is will camera 3 with audio
    ever be viable for my iPhone 5s?
    Thank you,
    Ann

    1. I will look into the iPhone issue, have you tried another browser? I am assuming your using Safari

  2. “ooh, we get to sleep out in the air this afternoon. Mommy is not trying to cover us, ”

    * could not resist the commentary as I saw [ at 5:19 pm 5-15-15] them in front of Astrid
    (hopefully I did not mix up Mommy and Daddy)

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