Clear Look at Five Eyases for Mothers Day
Just before 2:00PM today we got a good, clear look at all five eyases as they were being fed. Five little white heads are clearly visible in the picture above, as you can see.
Yesterday after posting about the fourth and fifth hatches, we spent the rest of the day second-guessing. Many viewers of the Falconcam thought that only four had hatched, mostly because no one could see five eyases at once, and there continued to be a large intact egg shell visible among the pile of hatchlings. There is some evidence to suggest that the remaining shell was in fact a whole egg that hatched around 9:00AM today.
As good as the view is, the Falconcam cameras don’t always give us as clear an image as we’d like. We also have to work from still photos taken a minute apart, so there’s a lot of movement going on in the scrape that we can’t see. So all in all, we’re not opposed to the idea that we mis-identified the fourth hatch (and by extension, the fifth) yesterday afternoon.
One of the great joys of watching the Rochester Falconcam, even for those of us on the “inside”, is being surprised. Today we received the most pleasant and exciting kind of surprise: Proof positive of five healthy-looking eyases for Mariah and Kaver!
-Jess
May 12th, 2008 at 12:25 AM
HI—THAT IS A GREAT PICTURE, THANK YOU SO MUCH. I APPRECIATE ALL THAT YOU DO AND THE GREAT PHOTOS YOU GET. FIVE LITTLE BABES..SO CUTE..I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THEM EVERY CHANCE I GET.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:46 AM
Happy Mother’s Day indeed! Look how much bigger the first three are already. Amazing! Five eyases, just as I predicted. Now lets see if my second prediction is correct. I’ll be watching…
Have there been any sightings of Aura??
May 12th, 2008 at 10:08 AM
WHAT A HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY…INDEED.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:55 PM
OT- Jess:
It’s a minor thing to most, but I have a couple friends on dial-up with old phone lines (with speeds in the low kb/sec)… and shaky’s link with a redirect takes an extra 3 or 4 minutes…. it means the difference between being able to look at the website really quick or not…
Is it possible to update shaky’s link on the imprints page? The new link is: http://shakymon.com/rfc-archive.html
Thanks so much!
ezsha
May 12th, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Happy Mothers Day Mariah have a nice day with your babies! 🙂
May 12th, 2008 at 2:23 PM
This was the best day yet. Happy Mother’s Day. Hope the babies are doing well. They are really cute. Their little heads look like snowmen.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Hey Jess – It doesn’t matter WHEN #4 & #5 arrived. The important thing is that we have FIVE little eyases! Woo Hoo! 🙂
Donna@ – There have been no reported sightings of Aura.
Carol P.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:11 PM
Am really enjoying all the nest activity! Any date set yet for “Banding Day?”
May 12th, 2008 at 4:40 PM
Way to go little ones. WELCOME!! 🙂 I hope Mariah enjoyed her mother’s day with her little ones.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:46 PM
@ezsha- Your wish is my command! I’ve updated the link to Shaky’s Archive Viewer.
@Carol- Agree 100% with you! Having 5 healthy eyases is what counts.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:50 PM
I can hardly get anything done while glued to the live cams !! I found out we have a new nesting pair on the WMU tower in downtown Seattle but the website & camera set-up are nothing like what you have here. There are no updates as to how many eggs, if any have hatched, etc. You can only access the camera for 3 minutes so the chances of seeing eyases are slim. So congratulations on the best website out there – Bravo !
May 12th, 2008 at 7:58 PM
Welcome! Five little darlings, they are so precious. Thanks to all of you for the updates and pictures. We’ll be watching as they grow . Linda/Lakeland,FL.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:42 PM
My grandmother lives in Rochester and she told me about this…. It is my first spring watching… but so interesting… Thanks for bringing joy and such interesting info to Pittsburgh!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:25 AM
I haven’t been able to find an update on whether Linn’s eggs hatched. … I know it was considered unlikely.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:39 AM
@Amy- We haven’t set a specific date yet, but this year’s nestlings are on about the same schedule as last year’s, so sometime around June 1 is a good bet. We’ll certainly post the date when it gets closer!
@Sarampa1- It was actually Ranger whose nest we were watching to see if her eggs would hatch. Unfortunately it looks like her clutch failed. Here’s the report we wrote about it a few days ago. Look for another Offspring Update soon!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:47 AM
That is the most precious picture of the 5 babies. Will it be possible for Mariah and Kavar to successfully raise all five of the babies? I just love watching them from day to day it is such a joy in my life.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:44 PM
@Gail- Raising five eyases is old hat for Mariah and Kaver. From 2003 to 2005 they raised five young each year, a record in New York State (and perhaps the US!). Prey is plentiful and both parents are accomplished hunters and providers.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:44 PM
Jess-
Thank you so much! My friend e-mailed me to let me know you’d made the change, and she’s ecstatic and says there will be several new viewers in her neighborhood!
Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!
ezsha
May 14th, 2008 at 5:17 PM
This is fantastic!!! Can you tell me how you can tell the difference between the Mom and the Dad? Do both take equal share in taking care of the hatchlings?