Other Peregrine Projects > USA Peregrines
NJ / Jersey City - 2008-21
The Peregrine Chick:
From the Jersey City Falcon Cam Nestbox News
May 8
A pip in a falcon egg observed this week at a nest on a tower in coastal New Jersey
Hatch watch is here! We are just as anxious to see what happens at this nest as everyone who is watching online. As soon as an egg starts to hatch, we should hear peeping after the hatchling breaks through its shell and takes its first breath of air. I witnessed pipping at a nest that I visited at the beginning of the week to retrieve our "spy cam" that we use to ID the breeding adults. The hatchling was peeping like crazy as it was breaking through its shell with its egg tooth.
As we have stated before, egg laying at this nest was a bit abnormal this year. Kathy Clark believes that this could have been from an altercation with a rival female. If this occurs during egg laying, which is a very sensitive time, then the female will drop or loose an egg. There is no way to be certain about this, but it is our best guess.
Egg #1 was laid on March 28/29. Today would be day 40 if she started to incubate right after laying, but they were on and off the egg for several days.
Egg #2 was laid on April 3. Today is day 35 from laying.
Egg #3 & 4 were laid on April 7 & 8. Today is day 30 & 31.
Typically falcons lay every other day, so the gaps between egg laying indicate that something happened. Usually falcons don't start incubating until they lay a full clutch and incubate for 29-32 days. With that said, we should see eggs hatching in the next day. We won't know how many eggs will successfully hatch until some start to hatch. If you hear some peeping or see signs of hatching, please post to our Interaction page! BW
The Peregrine Chick:
From the Jersey City Falcon Cam Nestbox News
April 23
The male sits on the eggs while the female gets a break. The male sits on the eggs while the female gets a break.
All has been quiet at the nest here in Jersey City since our last update. The male and female have been trading off incubation dutiies of their four eggs to forage, feed and preen. The male does most of the foraging during this time, so when 41/AX gets a break to feed, he steps in to incubate. He is not banded and has a more vibrant color to the fresh of on the base of his bill, called a cere, around his eyes, and on his legs and feet. The female is banded and is not as vibrantly colored.
Hatching at this nest will be interesting, since the #1 egg was laid on 3/28 and they started to incubate more steadily on the 30th, so if we say that was the start date of incubation of that egg, then today would be day 24 of 32 days (when eggs begin to hatch). Egg #2 is on day 19 and the final two eggs are on days 14 & 15. Typically eggs are laid within a few days and then hatch within a few days, so all young are around the same age, so it'll be really interesting to see what happens when the first eggs hatch and those young get more attention from the adults.
At other nest sites throughout the coast, in partnership with NJ Fish & Wildlife, we are currently monitoring them for incubation. When visiting nests we install a small remote, motion-activated camera inside the nestbox. This captures video when the adults come and go from the nestbox, during incubation exchanges. The video captures their leg bands and allows us to identify the breeding pair and determine if they are the same pair or new at that nest. Most nests begin hatching in early May, so we will return to these nests in a couple weeks to check for hatching.
The Peregrine Chick:
From the Jersey City Falcon Cam Nestbox News
April 9
41/AX has been busy since our last update - she laid egg #3 on April 7, and # 4 on April 8. Peregrine clutches average 3 to 4 eggs, that are inclubated for about a month.
The Peregrine Chick:
From the Jersey City Falcon Cam Nestbox News
April 3
It appears that 41/AX laid an egg overnight, which could mean that she lost (or dumped) egg #2 & #3 during a possible altercation with a rival bird over the weekend. It's hard to know what actually happened, but there is no reason for a healthy adult to not lay a full clutch of eggs since we know there is plentiful food sources in this urban habitat. Time will tell if she lays another egg or not.
The Peregrine Chick:
From the Jersey City Falcon Cam Nestbox News
March 28
I know it's been a while since our last update. Not much has happened over the past two weeks, but overnight 41/AX laid the first egg! I knew something would happen soon. Yesterday evening I was watching and saw that she was hanging near the nestbox, which always seems to be a sign that she will be laying an egg soon. Low and behold, I tuned in this morning and saw the first egg! Egg-citing times for this pair. We shall see how they do this year after only hatching one egg to a malnourished nestling last year (though this gave us the opportuniuty to foster in orphans who all successfully fledged). Hopefully we'll see them produce a full brood of healthy young this year! BW
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