It’s now safe to say now that the 4th egg is not going to hatch. It’s not at all unusual for Peregrines to have a single infertile egg in with the clutch. Interestingly, the parents will likely continue to protect the egg and even incubate it for a while yet. Ultimately though they will push it over to the side of the box. While it remains together with the chicks, we can use it to measure just how fast they are growing. The growth rate of these birds is amazing; they almost visibly grow before our eyes. Brooding them is literally getting to be a bigger and bigger job for the parents.
Another good feeding around 15:40. Astrid stored the remaining food just to the left of the camera out of sight, excellent closeup of her feathers not showing any stress lines just very healthy feathers thus assurance that her diet is perfect! Snuggle and naptime around 15:52.
Nice observation!
Thanks. Wish I had nothing to do all day but watch the nest, but I suppose that could become not so enjoyable after many hours every day! Just happened to check on our local peregrines and caught all the above noted activities! Thanks for all that you are doing for these lovely creatures! Have a great holiday weekend.