State Capitol - 2016 / 19K & Alley

[RCF]

Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!

Joel Jorgensen  May 17, 2016     Nongame Bird Blog

Earlier today (5/16) I posted a blog stating the game was all but over.  The apparent facts were indisputable and we were at the losing end.  The only chance was throwing a Hail Mary pass in desperation.  Beating the odds, our team came down with the ball only to score the winning touchdown.  In other words, one of the Peregrine Falcon eggs hatched late Monday evening.


More at this link
http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2016/05/touchdown-touchdown-touchdown/

[RCF]

First hatch for Alley and 19K 

[The Peregrine Chick]

At the moment 19/K is parked on something (egg/chick) in the nestbox in a patch of sunshine.
Can't see any eggshells but he looks perfectly content.  Also no updates posted on their twitter or blog feeds.

Think this is Alley given the size and distance distortion with the camera but whomever it is, they were taking great care of these two eggs this morning.

[RCF]

Joel Jorgensen Nongame Bird Blog

Time, decreasing probabilities and hope

So here we are on 12 May and there are no obvious signs either of the two remaining Peregrine Falcon eggs are hatching.   I originally stated I expected hatching would commence and/or occur during 7-12 May.  Over the weekend (7-8 May), the female disposed/ate three of the original five eggs (see this post and this post for more details).  Ally, the female falcon, and occasionally the male have continued incubating the two eggs leaving hope that a fluffball would emerge

http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2016/05/passing-time-decreasing-probabilities/

[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.

[RCF]

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

[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]

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

[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]

Five eggs this morning!!!   

[RCF]

Alley and 19K have four eggs this morning!  

[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!

[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 ...

[Alison]

Third egg today for Alley and 19/K.