By Robin Brumm
Monday was my last day of spring break. Hmm…what should I do?? Go to Decorah, of course! I spent Friday and Saturday and there were no signs of a hatch either day. I know that the eggs usually hatch at 35-40 days old. I had looked at the nest records and noted that for the last three years, the first egg has hatched at 39 days. If they laid the first egg on February 24th, 39 days would be Sunday, April 4th. If they laid on February 25th, 39 days would be Monday, April 5th, so it was a no-brainer to go back on Monday and check.
April 5, 2021: Mom on N3
When I got to Decorah, Mom was on N3. She kept looking down under her, but was staying very low in the nest. DM2 flew to a tree nearby but Mom did not get up so, after several minutes, he flew off. Mom stood up and intently looked down below her, then resumed incubation. About an hour later, DM2 came back again and perched in a nearby tree. Again, Mom did not get up, so DM2 went on a fly about and circled above the N3 area for about 15 minutes before flying off.
April 5, 2021: DM2 soaring above N3
Meanwhile, Mom continued to occasionally sit up and look down intently into the nest cup. She was sitting up for quite a while, when DM2 brought in some grasses. Mom decided she needed a break so she flew off. DM2 stood on the edge of the nest and looked down into the middle of the nest for several minutes before settling down over the nest cup…well, at least he tried to settle down. He kept moving, standing up and looking down, shimmying, and standing up and looking down again. He was up and down about three or four times in the time that Mom was gone.
Mom came back to the nest about an hour later. I think she might have brought a floppy fish because she was standing along the side of the nest looking around and would look down every so often. DM2 finally flew off and Mom took over incubation duties.
After only a few minutes, Mom stood up and went to the spot she was standing when she came in. She leaned over and pulled at something and then leaned over and put her beak down into the nest cup! She did that a couple of times and then settled back down over the egg cup. When looking at my photos later, I noticed there was a small stringy bit hanging from her beak! That means there is a hatch! Although we won’t have a date and time, It looks like the hatch could have been Sunday night or Monday morning. Yay! Welcome to the world, D37! If only Mom would tell us how many more eggs there are to hatch! Now would be a perfect time to know how to speak Eaglish, lol! I can’t wait until my next visit to see how many fuzzy bobbleheads peek up!
A thousand thanks to Robin Brumm for her boots-on-the-ground report and photos from N3! A quick reminder: Robin’s photos belong to her, so please don’t download or use them without her permission.
The Raptor Resource Project