March 29, 2008.

Mark Nash Reports:

First Egg Spotted in the nest!
We’ve received good news from Hamilton this past week. As of March 29th Madame X is currently incubating at least one egg in the nest, and likely more. Given the colder temps, she has been very consistent with the other three southern Ontario nest site females that also have eggs in the nest in that she has stayed very tight to the egg(s) and it has been difficult to see if there are any other eggs present. Fortunately, the nest cameras allow us to see more than most, where as we used to have to depend on the adults behavioral changes to tell the story. This involved a very skilled eye, and a seasoned observer that really understands the various behavioral differences of the birds activities to understand what happening in the nest. Hurrah for the web camera’s, as they take most of the guessing out of the equation and provide a very dependable and accurate tool that helps us all with the management of the nest site.