Caring for eggs

Hi All, Ron Joseph a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has contributed this very informative biologist journal about egg care and his experience with Peregrine Falcon recovery efforts. Enjoy!

CARING FOR EGGS AND EGG DEVELOPMENT

Both sexes develop brood patches or temporary featherless areas near the breast to facilitate heat exchange from adults to the eggs. Females perform most of the month-long incubation duties although males will spell females by incubating the clutch about 33% of the time. As a rule, peregrines are relatively quiet during this stage of the nesting season.
Males will occasionally call from a nearby ledge or other perch. And while the male is busy hunting for food (mostly birds) and stashing surplus food in caches, the female sits tightly on the eggs. About once an hour she'll stand up and turn the eggs with her bill to ensure an even distribution of heat in the developing embryos. In the late 1970s, when I began my career as a raptor biologist in Utah and Colorado, there were so few peregrines breeding in the west (none in Maine) we would not allow peregrines to incubate their own eggs. Peregrines back then still produced DDE induced thin-shelled eggs. The normal "wear and tear" of turning thin-shelled eggs by adults was problematic. Cracked eggs translate to dead embryos.
To avoid a potential reproduction loss, we fooled the adults by replacing a clutch of wild eggs with identical looking ceramic dummy eggs. The real eggs were transported in specially designed portable incubators to The Peregrine Fund's captive breeding facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. After the wild eggs hatched in captivity, the two-week old chicks were transported back to their home eyries in places like Dinosaur National Monument. I remember being stunned by the amount of damage to the first set of dummy eggs I collected after a month of incubation. The adults were stunned too in discovering loud, hungry young when minutes earlier an adult was incubating artificial eggs. We dropped many dead bobwhite quail onto ledges near the eyrie to help the adults feed their "surprise" family. Fortunately, peregrine populations today are recovering and the magnificent birds now reoccupy many parts of their former range, including Maine. Peregrine eggshell thickness has improved making it no longer necessary to manipulate the eyries with dummy eggs.

Best,

Ron Joseph
Wildlife Biologist
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
1168 Main Street
Old Town, Maine 04468

Peregrine Falcon Nesting Biology

ll, what a great way to start spring with the peregrine laying her first egg. I have just posted a video blog talking about what we should see over the nest month. Click here to watch it.

So here are some things that we should be watching for. The bird will lay 3-4 eggs around 48 hours apart. So by next Friday we should have a full clutch. Before the female lays the eggs she become quite lethargic, and this is what we have seen this last week and I believe is what explains her behavior of just sitting in the nest over three nights last week.

The eggs should take around 33 days to hatch, so we should see our first chick around April 22nd.

The female will tend to the eggs about two-thirds of the time while the male will attend the nest about one-third of the time. Every half and hour or so you should see the birds stand up and rotate the egg in order to keep the yolk from becoming stuck to one side. This is very important to keep the egg healthy.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments!

Have a great weekend.

Wing Goodale
Senior Research Biologist
BioDiversity Research Institute

Peregrine Falcons Lay Egg

Peregrine Falcons Lay Egg Before Live Internet Camera

 

GORHAM, Maine, March 20, 2009—Biodiversity Research Institute’s biologists confirmed that at 1:30 p.m. a peregrine falcon laid an egg before the live BRI Peregrine Cam.

 

Editors/Reporters: See the peregrine pair live at www.briloon.org/watching-wildlife/peregrine-ca.php. For still shots to print, reply to wing_goodale@briloon.org or call (207) 839-7600, ext. 109.

 

“This is amazing,” says Senior Research Biologist Wing Goodale. “We have all been watching with bated breath for the last three days. I haven’t been getting much sleep.”

 

The BRI Peregrine Cam is a new live internet camera for Biodiversity Research Institute and adds to the eagles, ospreys, loons, and finches that BRI monitors. Both the eagle pairs appear to be close to nesting.

 

Viewers from around the world are chatting live and capturing every event on BRI’s online webcam community, www.briloon.ning.com. This community site allows viewers to follow the events and post images and videos taken of nest activities. 

 

BRI webcams are at the forefront of innovation, giving biologists and the public a cutting-edge way to research wildlife.  BRI Peregrine Cam offers two views of the nest, one of which functions in full color in low-light conditions, providing an image 24 hours a day. 

 

“In Maine, breeding peregrine falcons are listed as a threatened species, with only 23 known pairs nesting in 2008,” said BioDiversity Research Institute’s Raptor Program Director Chris DeSorbo. “These webcams serve multiple purposes-—they can inform us about the causes of nest failures and they vastly increase people’s awareness of the many threats facing wildlife.”

 

To support global health, BRI conducts collaborative ecological research, assesses ecosystem health, promotes environmental awareness, and informs science based decision making.

 

BRI webcams are possible through collaboration and support from dedicated viewers, Bank of America, Kids in the Nest Educational Society, Nextera Energy, and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

 

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And it begins

Well, all of the activity at the nest has been very exciting. In the past these birds have laid eggs during the first week of April. So, I guess we may have some time before we see an egg. All of this activity is sure egging us on though.
Other good news is that we will have regular contributors to this blog beginning next week. Charlie Todd of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Ron Joseph of US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bruce Connery of Acadia National Park will be sharing contributions to help educate our viewers about the life history, behavior, and conservation efforts of Peregrine Falcons in Maine and New England. This is a great chance to learn about Peregrine Falcons from wildlife experts will many years of accumulated experience.
I hope that we have a lot to talk about.
Allthe Best,
Patrick Keenan
BioDiversity Research Institute

Peregrine Flacons on the cam

Well, all of the activity at the nest has been very exciting. In the past these birds have laid eggs during the first week of April. So, I guess we may have some time before we see an egg. All of this activity is sure egging us on though.
Other good news is that we will have regular contributors to this blog beginning next week. Charlie Todd of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Ron Joseph of US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bruce Connery of Acadia National Park will be sharing contributions to help educate our viewers about the life history, behavior, and conservation efforts of Peregrine Falcons in Maine and new England. This is a great chance to learn about Peregrine Falcons from wildlife experts will many years of accumulated experience.
I hope that we have a lot to talk about.

All the Best,
Patrick Keenan
BioDiversity Research Institute