It’s Hatch Day at the Pitt Peregrine Nest!

Morela with discarded half shell, 25 April 2021, 5:37am

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.

Morela and first chick both look up, 25 April 2021, 6:28am (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

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

Two chicks fluffy chicks obscure the 3rd hatchling, of 25 April 2021, 10:42am
Two chicks begging with 3rd newly hatched. Ecco comes to see, 25 April 2021, 10:45am
The 4th egg has a big crack as of 25 April 2021, 11:47am
3 chicks at first feeding. 4th is still in egg, 25 April 2021, 1:38pm
2nd feeding. Note that 4th egg has a crack all the way round, 25 April 2021, 5:16pm
Food offered to the tiny beak, 25 April 2021, 5:20pm

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh)

18 thoughts on “It’s Hatch Day at the Pitt Peregrine Nest!

  1. Such wonderful news to start the day with. One down, and three to go. Thanks for the update and the videos, Kate!

  2. 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!

  3. It will be a great time to see the family……we must forget last year and enjoy other nature in her glory again….

  4. 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?

  5. 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.

    1. Linda, when the young get older the adults can leave them for a while -or- watch them from afar.

    1. yes, it’s more than a pip. I added a photo of the 4th egg at the end of this blog post.

    1. 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.

  6. Kate,
    Thanks for the panoply of vid stills you recovered of the explosion of life coming from the happy couple.

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