Is the hatching starting?

Over the past few hours this morning there has been a lot of activity on the nest - five nest exchanges, three deliveries of greenery, two deliveries of sticks, and a food delivery.

During one of the nest exchanges the eggs were clearly visible and a possible pipping could be seen on one of the eggs. Thanks to CamFan, we have that footage (CST).

Following the video footage is some commentary from John Blakeman about what it might all mean.




John Blakeman comments:

"I, too, saw all that activity and the formel's extended settling behavior this morning.

I think all of this is a response to pipping sounds and perhaps even some very soft vocalizations from the eyasses yet in the egg.

Both haggards, when incubating, can feel the movements of the unhatched eyasses, very much as a human mother can feel the movements of her unborn baby.

I'm certain that this begins to turn on mothering behaviors; hence the increased activities. The formel realizes now that she's not just sitting on three inert white objects that feel good to have against her naked brood patch. Now, things are discernibly (but invisibly) happening down there.

With new sounds and tiny motions in the egg, a whole new set of behaviors is being prompted. Motherhood is a profound phenomenon, across all species. (We men pretty much don't get it, just inexplicably watch it.)

I couldn't tell from the photos if an egg had actually been pipped. Could have been just some dirt in the nest. Hard to tell.

But as the formel knows and shows, things are starting to happen down there. We are all excited

--John Blakeman