So many nests hatched now.....

I visited 22 nests today....trying to primarily focus on those nests where I had not yet confirmed hatching. Five of those nests were still incubating with no clear signs of hatching yet. Sadly, two of those nests had failed. In one case, hatching had been confirmed but now the adults were not tending to chicks and the male even tried to copulate with the female. That is a sign that they know something has gone wrong and they want to try again, start over. It's too late for that and the female did not seem cooperative. I don't know what happened to the chicks. At another nest, I had never confirmed hatching, and now the adults were gone. Sometimes if they incubate too long, they realize the eggs won't hatch and just give up. I have often seen females give up first and I noticed that on yet another nest. I did not label it failed yet, but they are overdue and the female was on the nest perch food begging while the male incubated. He would not get up. We will see what happens. We have at least seven nests that have failed around the metro, and I am sure there will be more. This is a natural part of breeding. Eggs may be infertile, or they may have died along the way. It is much sadder when chicks die, and I am sure we will have that happen this year also. Meanwhile, we focus on the successes. I was able to count the little guys on a few nests and found a few nests with a "full house" of three chicks. After all these years, it's still a warm, fuzzy, joyful feeling to watch the wee ones, with their heads falling over, the older chicks starting to notice a world beyond Mom and Dad...looking out at their surroundings. Nothing cuter....life going on. They grow so fast...to 80% of their adult size in the first 30 days. I am a bit worried about these newly hatched chicks as we face a brutally hot weekend here in Minnesota. Temps are expected to hit the upper 90s, with high humidity. Newly hatched chicks cannot thermo regulate, so very hot or cold weather can be very hard on them. I hope the adults keep them well hydrated and shaded. Fingers crossed that they all survive the weekend.