News, video, and more about Utica's Peregrine Falcons
After reviewing hours of video from today, Deb Saltis of our Utica Falcon Team, has found conclusive evidence that the Utica Peregrine Falcons have a “pipped” egg. She was even able to see a falcon chick moving around inside the small hole in the egg. This is a historic first. This has never happened in Utica or Oneida County before! It could take a day or 2 for the chick to fully emerge, but things are finally happening!
Late this morning it appeared as though one of the 4 eggs had some white marks on it. Could these be “pips” – meaning small holes in the egg created by the Peregrine chick inside? We are not sure and require more evidence before confirming the beginning of a hatch. We only know that the marks in question are not being caused by light hitting an egg, which was the cause of some premature excitement the other day. We will continue to monitor the nest and hopefully you will too!
It seems we are not the only ones waiting eagerly to see a “pipped” egg. Both parents spent 10 minutes in the box together this morning – possibly wondering what’s taking so long. As I wrote in yesterday’s post – hatching is a slow process with Peregrine falcons, and it can take days for a chick to emerge even after it breaks the first small hole in its egg shell. Even though we have not confirmed a “pip” or a hole in an egg yet, the adults may be hearing the young call inside the eggs. As of today it has been a full 33 days of incubation for the first 2 eggs laid. That should be all the time required. We’ll see what happens today.
With each successive day in our “hatch window” (May14th – 18th) the beginning of a hatch becomes more likely. Remember that hatching is typically a slow process with these raptors and can it take a few days. First the egg is “pipped” – which means a small hole is created in the shell by the chick inside. Looking for a hole in one or more of the eggs that may be a difficult task given today’s cool temperatures. This means that we can expect the parents to stay tight on the nest today. When they switch or get up to adjust the eggs we may have a little time to inspect them for holes or cracks. Who said that this would be easy?
The incubation period for Peregrine Falcons is 29 to 33 days. Since continuous incubation began on April 15th, just before the laying of the 3rd egg, we calculated the “hatch window” to be between May 14th and May 17th. I think that we can safely add another day on the end of our window and include May 18th. Regardless, today may be the day when one of the Peregrine chicks begins to break through its shell. Whenever one of the parent birds moves, we need to watch for a hole appearing in one of the eggs. That will likely be the first sign that the young are arriving.