McKenzie Seeds - 2012 / Brooklyn & Hurricane

[Rose]

1617h
Could hear someone talking but it wasn't Hurricane.  I think perhaps Brooklyn was up on the roof (not the nestbox roof, I zoomed out and he wasn't/isn't there) or light talking to herself in the box.  She didn't respond and "he" stopped.  No birds flying by or on the perch pole either.  Given how clearly we can hear the trains go by, it wouldn't surprise me that we can hear himself 30 feet (approx) above the nestbox on the lights.

Brooklyn just brought a snack that's when someone talked loudly she grabbed the snack and took off. Now he is on the eggs.

[The Peregrine Chick]

1617h
Could hear someone talking but it wasn't Hurricane.  I think perhaps Brooklyn was up on the roof (not the nestbox roof, I zoomed out and he wasn't/isn't there) or light talking to herself in the box.  She didn't respond and "he" stopped.  No birds flying by or on the perch pole either.  Given how clearly we can hear the trains go by, it wouldn't surprise me that we can hear himself 30 feet (approx) above the nestbox on the lights.

[The Peregrine Chick]

So would these 2 be into what's referred to as "hard incubation" now, TPC, with perhaps 1 more egg to come?

Generally penultimate (2nd last) egg is when incubation begins and when they are velcroed to the eggs, say by the weekend, that is hard incubation.  Princess & Ivy get down to hard incubation right at egg 3, no messing about.  Brooklyn and Hurricane have been a little less quick to start, but hard to know if that is their style or just this year.

And if so, I have been meaning to ask, why does "hard incubation" only begin after the 2nd last egg is laid? Why don't the eggs need to be incubated as they are laid?  

If you start incubating with the first egg, then the first egg will be that many more days developed than the other eggs.  The goal is to have all the chicks hatch close together so they are all developing at the same time/rate.  At the Radisson, the age difference between chick 1 and chick 4 would be a week, that's a huge amount of time in a chick's life and development.  At the moment we are at 4 days between egg 1 and egg 2 at McKenzie Seeds, egg 4 if it appears will be 6+ days younger than egg 1.

[Kinderchick]

So would these 2 be into what's referred to as "hard incubation" now, TPC, with perhaps 1 more egg to come? And if so, I have been meaning to ask, why does "hard incubation" only begin after the 2nd last egg is laid? Why don't the eggs need to be incubated as they are laid?

[The Peregrine Chick]

1414h
Hurricane is back on her eggs.  No yelling or screaming or fuss, she just came back, sat on the box edge for a minute, maybe a minute and a half and then came over and settled herself on the eggs.  She's looking around a bit but can't hear any disturbance outside the box and haven't see anyone flying about outside the nest box, but granted, our view is limited ...

[The Peregrine Chick]

1323h
And he's off again ...

[The Peregrine Chick]

1315h
Brooklyn's back and no scary noises, he might have been checking on Hurricane ... she tended not to return to the nestbox much in the hours before laying an egg - when she was ready, she returned, hung out for as long as needed, then napped a bit (not surprisngly) then was off again.

[The Peregrine Chick]

1312h
Brooklyn is off again ...
New camera angle for a few minutes ... have switched to CBC viewer to "see" if I can hear if anything is going on ... so far, all quite, just background sound, no peregrine noise ...

[The Peregrine Chick]

always a question of timing ...  

And its Brooklyn back on duty ...

[The Peregrine Chick]

Ok good - thanks TPC - as much as we like to poke our noses into their business, I'm sure these birds know what they're doing....lol..... (Still waiting for somebody to come back though, then I'll feel better!) 

Had a little putter through the recording for this morning and its mostly been Brooklyn on the nest, Hurricane seems not be settling for more than an hour before she's off again.  Not sure, but he might have been on the night shift as well.  Could be that she's got at least one more egg to lay and that's what's got her unsettled.  Or it could be the new neighbours.  There didn't seem to be any problems last year, but its early in the season and every one is hopped up on hormones (sounds like an exercise program) and so the twitch factor is a bit higher than usual.  At this point, the eggs should be okay.  Later on, if its sunny/warm, the adults can leave the eggs for extended periods and from our experiences with Madame, they don't come to any harm - Trey turned out pretty well .  

[ballywing]

Finally!!! ....That was a half hour break! Time to stay put for a while now. 

[ballywing]

Ok good - thanks TPC - as much as we like to poke our noses into their business, I'm sure these birds know what they're doing....lol..... (Still waiting for somebody to come back though, then I'll feel better!) 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Eggs have been without cover for the 5 min that I've been watching, not sure how long before that - it's cold today, hope somebody comes back soon to warm them up!! 

They only just begun incubating yesteerday and we are still thinking there will be one more egg, so don't be too concerned ... yet

[ballywing]

Eggs have been without cover for the 5 min that I've been watching, not sure how long before that - it's cold today, hope somebody comes back soon to warm them up!! 

[RCF]

There is an article about the Brandon Peregrines in The Brandon Sun online edition today  , but you have to have a subscription to view it.  

 

That's only for local news, any other news you are able to access.