25 April 2021
Just to show how wrong we humans can be … We saw a pip yesterday and expected the chick to hatch in 72 hours. Well, that pip was a lot older than we thought. The first chick hatched early this morning before 3:09am!
This morning I saw a discarded half shell next to Morela at 5:37am, above. A discarded shell is a sure sign that an egg has hatched. I looked back in time to find that hatch time. It took me a while because Morela had kept the half shell under her for more than two hours.
Here’s the earliest footage of the first chick — at least it’s the earliest I can find — Sunday 25 April 2021 at 3:09am. The chick hatched before this time but I don’t know when.
Here’s the first good look at the chick.
And here’s proof at 5:30am that there are still three eggs to go. One has a big pip!
Morela will eventually eat the eggshell. In this way mother birds regain the calcium they lost by laying eggs.
Watch Hatch Day at the Pitt peregrine nest on the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.
UPDATES IN PICTURES — 10:42am to 5:16pm
2 chicks, 3 chicks, 4th egg underway + first & 2nd feeding of 3 chicks
(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh)
Such wonderful news to start the day with. One down, and three to go. Thanks for the update and the videos, Kate!
That’s good news!
10:44 and 2 chick’s!!
Ah love the last picture! So exciting… we’re having babies this year!!
A wonderful hatch!! I watched her pretty much all day and evening yesterday. Figures it would hatch at THREE a.m.!! Bless her heart. Happy Hatch Day, Kate!
It will be a great time to see the family……we must forget last year and enjoy other nature in her glory again….
Am I missing something? I cannot sight an adult eagle at the Pittsburgh bald eagle nest at Hays since one left before dawn this morning? How long until the young are in jeopardy?
My bad. I finally found the adults at the nest, altho’ it seems they were away an inordinate amount of time. Sorry to have bothered you.
Linda, when the young get older the adults can leave them for a while -or- watch them from afar.
Is that a pip in egg 4? Sure looked like it at 4:55 pm
yes, it’s more than a pip. I added a photo of the 4th egg at the end of this blog post.
Last feed it didn’t look like the parent gave the chicks any food. . .
Yes she did. She had her back to the camera and hid the chicks as she fed them. I added a 2nd-feeding photo to this blog post that shows her putting food in a chick’s mouth.
And Morella is such a beautiful new mom. This is a happy day.
When was the last year that there were 4 chicks in the nest?
Karen, I had to look that up. It was 2011 with Dorothy and E2. 10 years ago!
I got to see #3 hatching – wonderful!
Kate,
Thanks for the panoply of vid stills you recovered of the explosion of life coming from the happy couple.