State Capitol - 2016 / 19K & Alley

[Alison]

Alley had been spending time in the nest box over the past couple of days, looking somewhat lethargic.

 

And here comes 19/K: in the second pic, he is in the nest box behind Alley.

 

[Alison]

This afternoon, Alley returned to the nest to protect her egg. She was still there after dark this evening.

 

[Alison]

One of the birds going into a stoop from the nest box, on the very distant cam:

[Alison]

Second egg, laid during the night or very early this morning.

[Alison]

Third egg today for Alley and 19/K.

[The Peregrine Chick]

I checked their confirmed dates - first sighting of Alley or first ID of Alley (19K was identified much earlier) and giving them time to get reacquainted, court and get some eggs percolating and my calculations were that we should see eggs by March 31st - first egg was on April 1st.  Like to use them as a litmus test so we can more accurately guess when our kids will nest ... if Smiley and Princess are on the same kind of timetable, we could see eggs around April 10th, however that's still a bit earlier than usual - usually incubating begins about April 20th ...

[Alison]

I checked their confirmed dates - first sighting of Alley or first ID of Alley (19K was identified much earlier) and giving them time to get reacquainted, court and get some eggs percolating and my calculations were that we should see eggs by March 31st - first egg was on April 1st.  Like to use them as a litmus test so we can more accurately guess when our kids will nest ... if Smiley and Princess are on the same kind of timetable, we could see eggs around April 10th, however that's still a bit earlier than usual - usually incubating begins about April 20th ...

Really close estimate on the date of the first egg, TPC. How do you use the dates of these eggs to judge when Princess and Smiley are likely to start egg laying?

[The Peregrine Chick]

I checked their confirmed dates - first sighting of Alley or first ID of Alley (19K was identified much earlier) and giving them time to get reacquainted, court and get some eggs percolating and my calculations were that we should see eggs by March 31st - first egg was on April 1st.  Like to use them as a litmus test so we can more accurately guess when our kids will nest ... if Smiley and Princess are on the same kind of timetable, we could see eggs around April 10th, however that's still a bit earlier than usual - usually incubating begins about April 20th ...

Really close estimate on the date of the first egg, TPC. How do you use the dates of these eggs to judge when Princess and Smiley are likely to start egg laying?  

Alley and 19/K tend to be a pretty close match to Princess' usual schedule.  Hurricane and Brooklyn tend to be faster based on their return dates and Joli is often later than expected.  Gives me a ballpark to work with at least.  Easiest with our resident pairs of course - we know where they are nesting.  For our transient pairs who we hope will nest, it lets us look for different behaviours or in different places if we think they have moved from courting to egg-laying to incubating.  Whatever works to help us figure out who's doing what and where!

[RCF]

Alley and 19K have four eggs this morning!  

[RCF]

Five eggs this morning!!!   

[The Peregrine Chick]

Haven't heard anything so I assume Alley & 19/K are still incubating the 5 eggs laid ... anyone heard differently?

The weather in Lincoln looks uncomfortable for whomever is incubating at the moment - they are right  out at the far end of the nestbox and it looks windy.  whoever it is, is tucked down as flat on the gravel as possible to stay out of the wind.  Remember Trey and Ivy on the nestledge when it was windy, that's what this bird looks like.  Hopefully the weather will improve and give him/her a break.

At my count, we are just a little past mid-way through incubation here.

[RCF]

Alley and 19/K are only incubating three eggs now. Alley disposed of two of them in the last 24 hours.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Alley and 19/K are only incubating three eggs now. Alley disposed of two of them in the last 24 hours.

Fourth egg (April 9) would have been penultimate egg but given that she usually has 4 not 5, I estimated that incubation started April 8 just to be safe particularly given the changeable weather Lincoln has had this spring.  That would make tomorrow (May 30 days, so I would expect hatching to start in the next 4 days given the experience this pair has.  Just an estimate of course, only one who really knows when they'll hatch is Alley. 

[RCF]

There are only two eggs left, she ate the third one this evening.

[The Peregrine Chick]

There are only two eggs left, she ate the third one this evening. 

I'd love to know how they can tell ... only thing I can think is that, aside from breaking or smelling, that they move differently from their compatriots in the same way that we humans can tell a raw egg from a hard-boiled one.  And no, I'm not saying that's how the peregrines tell, just that I wonder if they can tell how the interior of the egg feels as they move them around and as they move around them.  And what/when is the point when they know for sure that the egg isn't or is no longer developing.  Yet another one of those very cool things that we humans will never be able to comprehend how a peregrine knows something even if we could explain it simply because we aren't a peregrine and can't replicate peregrine senses and sensibilities.