SW and Buckeye proudly announce the hatching of their first chick in 2007. Welcome to the world, little guy!
Sara Jean Peters, Ohio Division of Wildlife (retired) tells us: "Note the way (SW's) feathers are fluffed here...it's a great way to allow heat to escape. Young birds are doing a lot of exercises in a very small room as they break open their shell. It's easy for them to overheat, so the parents are trying to keep them warm....but not too warm."
The hatching process for each egg takes several days. Yesterday, Mr. Wright visited the nest and saw a "pip" or hole in the egg that was beginning to hatch. The chick inside the egg was using its special "egg tooth" to break through the shell. That’s Buckeye in this picture.
It appears that the first hatch was at approximately 6:16 this morning.
Now there’s a pip in another egg.
It's fun to record the date that each chick hatches and then record its growth and progress. When does the chick have its first meal and what will that be? When will it take its first step? When will it get its first real feather? When will it fly? You can do this in a falcon journal, a technique that wildlife biologists use as they study the peregrines. To help you record the chicks' progress, you can go to the FalconCam and click on the archives link under each of the 3 current pictures to see all the day's activities. Will there be 2 more chicks? Several times, one of SW and Buckeye’s eggs have failed to hatch. Watch closely at: http://www.falconcam-cmnh.org/news.php
Seeing the chicks as they hatch is a small miracle because just 30 years ago, the species peregrine falcon was nearly extinct in North America. Its comeback is one of the great success stories of wildlife conservation. Let's commit ourselves to the future of all species.
