Author: D Saltis

Our first hatch may likely happen soon!! Astrid is shuffling the eggs and we have noticed what we believe is a pip. A pip is a small break in the egg that happens when the egg tooth of the chick inside hits the shell. The chick will use the egg tooth to “saw” its way out of the egg.

The pip in the above picture is in the egg lowest in the picture – notice the white marks.

In the above picture the pip is on the top right egg.

Astrid and Ares are now about 1/3 of the way through the incubation process. Peregrine falcon incubation typically lasts 30-35 days. We have seen that the first hatch can take longer but this nest usually has its first hatch around 33-35 days.

True incubation does not begin with the first egg but starts sometime between the laying of eggs 2 and 3. The reason for this delay in beginning incubation is so that the eggs will hatch close together. As the chicks begin to hatch it is important that they arrive close in succession so that they are better able to compete for food.

This year Astrid and Ares seemed to be steady with their incubation efforts as of March 28th. This would put our hatch window at April 30th to May 2nd for the first hatch.

Incubation can be a time for Astrid and Ares to catch up on their sleep. Ares seems to really enjoy this time of year. One of the cool things about Peregrines is that they can close one eye and rest half pf their brain. We bet you wish you could do that!!

 

Did you know that the peregrine falcon is the fasted animal on earth?

They can exceed 200 mph in a straight downward dive called a stoop. This is one of their methods of hunting. To do this a falcon flies high up in the sky. They fly in a wide circle and gain height as they go. They often go so high up that they can barely be seen with the naked eye. They continue to fly in a circular pattern while they scan below them for unsuspecting prey. Once they pick their target they fold their wings and make a straight downward dive at the prey. As they close in on their target they ball up their talons like a fist and knock the prey. This hit often kills their prey on impact. As the prey tumbles they grasp it with their talons and fly off with their prize.

We recently had the exhilarating experience of verifying the presence of a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons in Little Falls (NY). After some observation we located their nest site and have monitored their activities for a couple of weeks. Their behavior indicates they are incubating one or more eggs!!

During the week Tom and Stephanie Schmidt spent some time near the nest site and Tom captured some wonderful pictures that he shared with us. Thank you Tom!!!

We would love to organize some “watchers” for this site so that we can ensure the safety of the young when they fledge in June. Watch this site for more information to come….

Astrid laid egg 4 this morning at 10:25 – will there be a 5th egg??

Historically Astrid has laid 4 eggs every year so we don’t really expect a fifth egg but if that were to happen it would arrive late Thursday night.

Here are a couple of sneak peeks at the new egg. More pics and a full write up later tonight….