OH / Columbus - Rhodes Tower - 2008-16

[susha]

Spoke too soon.  She's on the eggs   Hopefuly, I've just been checking in at the wrong times!

[susha]

According to the blog on this site, Chance has been MIA now for awhile now.  There's been a report of a Peregrine hitting a window and then flying off, so there's specualtion that it might have been Chance.  No injured or dead Peregrines have been found though, so nobody knows what's happening.  I've been checking in periodically today and the eggs have been alone whenever I've checked   Is it possible that Durand has abandoned them, knowing that she alone wouldn't be able to care for them?   So close to hatching...

[jadoo]

...there are still 3 whole eggs there this morning - looks like we were both wrong Elaine    unless, of course, that is one LAZY chick...

[Elaine L]

I have just been looking, and I think you may be right, Jadoo.  Not only that, but I think I saw the egg move.  Of course, I have been known to be wrong before.

[jadoo]

..and I quickly went back to see durand plant herself on the eggs again, so I can't get another look!   

[jadoo]

...looks to me like there is a pip in one of the eggs, front and centre, right now!   

[Elaine L]

The biologist, Donna, has a report on the website this morning; she says that expected hatch date is about May 6 (http://ohioperegrinefalcons.blogspot.ca/).  She does not say anything about Chance or his absence from the nestbox, so I will presume that perhaps, as Tracy says below, there is not necessarily a problem.

[jadoo]

...thanks for the insight, tracy - also, these are both relatively young birds as well, and they didn't have a successful nest last year.  With two such inexperienced birds, it may take a while to get things right...

[The Peregrine Chick]

...it may be my imagination, but durand looks much less agitated this morning;  she was gone for about 15 min's earlier, then back and right back on the eggs;  if she went for a meal, I can't see her spotting, hunting down, catching, killing and eating her prey in that short a time, and then come back relatively calmly.  So, either a) she didn't eat...or...b) she had food stashed somewhere...or...c) chance (or some other male?) brought food for her, but didn't take over in the nestbox.
Any other options I might be missing?

Chances are (no pun intended) she was retrieving food from Chance or from Chance's cache of food.  We have had males that don't participate in incubation as much as others (or the females won't let them).  Last year the only time Beau could incubate was in the middle of the night so unless we check the cameras between midnight and 2am we rarely saw him.  He never brought food to the nestsite and he never hung out there.  When we moved Polo after banding, he was around 50 to 75 percent of the time, they both were.  Beau couldn't participate last year like he did in 2010 because Jules wouldn't let him.  Now that was at a non-optimal nestsite.  We have had males at the Radisson that I almost never saw either - Simba was Madame's mate for two years and I almost never saw him in the nestbox and rarely on the building.  Didn't seem to bother Madame any and she was happy to share incubation duties with Pop, T-Rex and Trey.   Every pair operates differently - it could be that she feels he's too "new" at this and is not letting him participate - or he may not want to participate like Simba - or he participates at night like Beau - or he's off defending the site - or something else entirely.  So long as she keeps incubating, she is getting food from somewhere and that would mean he's still around.

[jadoo]

...it may be my imagination, but durand looks much less agitated this morning;  she was gone for about 15 min's earlier, then back and right back on the eggs;  if she went for a meal, I can't see her spotting, hunting down, catching, killing and eating her prey in that short a time, and then come back relatively calmly.  So, either a) she didn't eat...or...b) she had food stashed somewhere...or...c) chance (or some other male?) brought food for her, but didn't take over in the nestbox.
Any other options I might be missing?

[allikat]

Well, let's hope and think positively that perhaps Chance is just waiting for those eggs to hatch. We can't assume, but, let's all hope that things will turn out.

[Elaine L]

According to the BCAW Forum, there has been no sign of Chance since the morning of April 30.  This was the same time as he, as Flyboy, disappeared last year, they say.  There is some speculation that he may still be providing food to Durand while he patrols his territory, but, understandably, everyone is worried.  There is no one, really, in Columbus who regularly watches this site, so we have no way of knowing what is going on.  All very troubling.

[jadoo]

...she wasn't gone long, maybe 5-10 min's, then she landed on the ledge, pulled a feather off of her talon, then headed into the box, where she is trying to get herself settled with the eggs, but seems too agitated - she is constantly moving and repositioning herself and the eggs...    

[Kinderchick]

Looks as if the 3 eggs have been left alone for now. So, perhaps Durand has gone off hunting for food to store in a cache close by, if her eggs are about to hatch and Chance is not pulling his weight.

[jadoo]

...apparently there is some concern on the BCAW forum about the male not showing up to do his fair share of duties very recently - she's been calling, and he's not showing up...
...also, hatching should be soon, and I've noticed Durand seems to be looking and listening, and occasionally talking, to the eggs...