The first tiny hatchling:

Today, hatching has begun:

Shift change:

   

I find it interesting that it is mostly one-sided. The female stays on the eggs for as long as she wants. The male does not approach the eggs until she has left. When she returns at the time of her choosing, she expects him to leave even if he is not ready.

Very interesting observation, Shaky. And that certainly is what happens.

Good news about the nest boxes, Carly. Now we just need confirmation that the birds are okay.

Came across a pic I think may be Tessa, from the 2014 banding at Mississauga Holcim. Of course, none of the banding pictures showed bands, but one shows a red band on the right leg.



She was 905 grams at banding, the only girl among the four chicks.

According to the site, Big Red and Chayton now have five eggs!

Haven't seen the eggs yet; they are being so well incubated.



http://www.co.jackson.mi.us/tower_falcons.asp

Nona and Squawker now have five eggs!

Pic from the site:

Wow, Carly! So she is a Canadian bird. I also went through the video again frame by frame and still thought the numbers were Y/82. Just was not sure about the color of the bottom part of the band.

It's good to know who she is. I do hope she is not injured. When I was going through the video again, I thought she seemed somewhat thin, with no food in her crop.

Thanks again!

Two little fluffballs now!







Then Mom was back in a flurry of feet and feathers to cover the chicks again.

I'm not 100% Alison.  Someone on the Buffalo boards told me that it is black Y/82 but the tape color doesn't match who we have down as that.  I tried blowing up the bands from the video and it could be 82 but it's not clear enough in my mind to say 'yes' for sure.  The color looks black but it's not uniform - there is something not quite right about it.

I hope, whoever she is that she made it out safely.  The fact that DEC is involved has me concerned so I'm hoping PP posts something on their FB soon to say either no one was injured or worse, or that she flew away on her own.  The resident female is back, saw some photos on FB and Ralphie brought some food so that's good. 

Thanks, Carly! I'm not 100% sure either about those bands. It's just that there seems to be a difference in color between the top and bottom parts of the band. The red band does look like tape over a band rather than the red band of a captive raised bird.

The main thing is for both birds to be okay. The resident female and Ralphie both look okay as far as I can tell so far, and the egg looks intact.

The fact that the DEC is involved has me concerned too. Hope we hear something more soon.

Resident female came back.  Hopefully our little Canadian bird made it out safe, hoping to hear something.

Hoping for updates too, Carly. So you think this is definitely a Canadian bird? I thought the band looked all black until I enlarged it, and then it looked like black over something else. Number looks like Y/82. Just hope she is okay, whoever she is.

Oh no! Just when everything was going well at this nest. I hope both birds are okay.

Looks like red tape over the band on the right leg of of the intruder. And a two tone band on the left.

Look what Buffalo got this evening! And the egg is uncovered at the moment.

Saw Terzo take his turn incubating at least twice today:

Didn't stay long: