Adventures of Week One

One week has passed for our Peregrine Watch Program and there have been a few twists and turns. Over the weekend we had some unfavorable weather so we could not run the program. Also our transmitter and receiver for our monitor that gives us the picture of what is going on inside the nest box was not working. So, after we had our one chick hatch, we were kind of in the dark about what was happening in the box. Yesterday we were finally able to get a peak inside the nest box. To our surprise there was still only one chick and 3 eggs in the nest. It is quit possibly that we will not see the rest of the eggs hatch since the first one is already a week old.

In a normal year, when all eggs hatch, it is common for the eggs to hatch a few days apart. They could even hatch up to a week apart. However it is more uncommon for one to hatch and all others to not be hatched a week later. The one chick had already hatched on the later side of things from when we first discovered eggs in the nest. We are not sure why the eggs have not hatched but it could be because of the colder spring weather or infertile eggs.

Although we are disappointed that we may only have one young falcon to watch grow this season, we are still excited about the one that has hatched. This young bird will be getting all the attention and will defiantly be getting enough to eat. In the past, these adults are commonly feeding 3 or 4 chicks so they will have no problem getting food for one.

The chick seems to be doing well so far. Dad has been hunting and bringing back food for mom and the chick. We can already see a huge development in size and mobility from one week ago. At about one week old falcon chicks are already around 3 times the size that they were when they hatched. In just a few days, this chick will have developed a second layer of white down that will help is stay a lot warmer and need less brooding. You can really see a huge development from day to day and week to week.

Stay tuned to hear more about this falcon family!