Thanks go out to the quick capture of our web camera watchers in New York who managed to snap this image of Quest yesterday with her second egg!
She was standing with her back to the cam for almost 2 hours and has finally moved off for us to see her second egg!!
April 3rd-2013
Thanks to both Margaret and Karen for sending us some good shots of Quest and her first egg. It continues to be very cold especially with the blustery winds and wind-chill factors so we’re not getting allot of looks at many of the new eggs that the resident females have been producing around many of the urban nest sites.
By the end of the week we are expecting much warmer temperatures in the double digits for southern Ontario and it should ease the pressure on the incubating adults.
April 2nd - 2013
Likely laid last night as she was due for one but the cold weather has kept her tight on the eggs. She’s up now and I could clearly see two eggs!
Both Kitty, over at Rfalcon and DEF, from BCAW got the first look at Quest’s first egg around dinner time this evening. Coincidentally, Kendal also arrived with dinner for Quest! I’ve attached the screen capture DEF caught where you can see Quest, the ‘Egg’ and Kendal arriving with dinner!
April 1st - 2013
While we have not been able to confirm the presence of her first egg, it appears that Quest is doing something more than just keeping the gravel warm!
Given the blustery cold winds and wind chills, all of the resident female adults on the nest ledges are covering their egg(s).
The high winds and the various snow streamers coming from the north and north west off the Georgian Bay are actually hammering communities to the north of us with accumulations of snow and bitter cold winds. The wind chill factors associated with the high winds has all of the resident adult females laying down tight to their nest bowls and not giving us an opportunity to view their secrets.
The latest photo of Quest shows her lying down tight over her nest bowl and we don’t blame her! Its COLD!!! What on earth has happened to the great spring weather and warm temps that we just had over the previous two days?? This week we are to expect unseasonably cold temperatures and we may even get some minor snow accumulation!
Stay tuned……..
If for no other reason than it’s below zero and we even had some white flakes floating around today! Given we already observed 2 eggs by last Wednesday and it’s 5 days later, safe to say that likely a full clutch is now present. I managed to get lucky and catch Jack in twice to give O’Connor food and a break as he took over incubation duties from her.
What’s going on at Jack’s other site? A lot of repair work on the outside of the buildings they traditionally nest on so that may pose a challenge for nesting over there this year. It depends how comfortable they are with the workers being around. TR Mom has been seen trying to prepare a scrape however so that’s a positive sign. They are usually a week behind us so - if they found a place they feel comfortable putting eggs down - that will happen this week. Talons crossed for her!
Finally caught her off the eggs ! It’s been a cold day and we even had some snow! But she’s just now at 4:44 stepped off briefly and allowed us a glimpse of the third egg!
April 1st - 2013 - 7:38am
With a thank you to Eileen who was quick to snap a photo of the first egg for RM and T at the Toronto Sheraton Centre hotel this morning. We’re back to some pretty cold and blustery winds this week, along with some snow in other areas of the northern city communities around the greater Toronto area. While there no real amounts of accumulation to be concerned about, its well below seasonal temps with cold wind chill factors!
Lets hope that the birds stay down on their egg(s) this week, as there is always risk of chilled eggs and failure if left un-attended for long.
We are all hopping that it warms up soon and we get some real spring type weather that stays!!
Stay tuned….
