HATCHING!

I am happy to report that I can confirm that hatching has begun here in the metro area! After 22 years it's still a thrill to watch the female wiggling restlessly, looking down, and finally to see her feeding the wee one beneath her. Of course you cannot see the little guy at this stage as they can't even stand up, so we must rely on the sometimes subtle behavioral clues that the adults give us. If only we had cams on every nest! So we are off and running...the 2015 chicks have begun to arrive! Break out the champagne! And yet, some nests have not laid eggs yet! And on the flip side I am also beginning to confirm that some nests have failed. And sometimes I don't know why...one day they are incubating, and then they are gone. I can't get to every nest often enough to know the rest of the story, so we still need more volunteers to watch over these nests. My car was in the shop two more times this week for another spendy repair...so many miles, trying to gather all the data on all these nests. But tonight we celebrate the excitement of seeing those first feedings.