Peregrines: sharing the incubating duties!

April 14, 2012 in In the Nest Box

The Peregrines are truly sharing the duties of incubating the 4 eggs.  Over the past week they have both been close by the nest much of the time even as the other is in the nest box and on the eggs.  Stopped by Wednesday morning and observed the male preening on the west wing rooftop of the New Balance building.  It is fascinating to watch the care and precision as they are preening each feather from base to tip. 

In the afternoon, stopped by and noticed the female on the perch stick that protrused from the nest box.  She went through a ritual of bowing and shrugging while lookingin at the male.  It seemed like she was saying, your time is up and the switch over time is now.  She seemed to take extra time to coax the male of the eggs.  He finally exits the nest box.  It was natural to expect the female to then enter the nest box.  Not so!  At least not right away. 

To date, the change over during incubation has usually called for one of them to enter the nest box while the other (still incubating) prepares to depart.  This time, the female turns around and does a big aerial loop around the west wing of the New Balance building and then loops back in under three minutes.  She then re-enters the nest box.  Had a chance to view the nest box cam on my phone at the same time to observe the switch over.  Talk ablout the joy of our modern electronic devices, never mind the totally excellent New Balance falcon cam!!

Photo highlights of change over sequence posted online.  Link to photos:  http://www.pbase.com/birdshots/image/142642170

Enjoy!!