Peregrine Falcons: Woburn food exchange

April 7, 2017 in Peregrine Falcon Woburn

_W7I1501-001Courtship behavior continues between these two adult peregrines with food exchanges and other activities. The male and female frequently visit the nest at the same time, leaning toward each other in a bowing fashion. They may also be seen to exhibit other bonding behaviors. The birds continue to clean up around the nest ledge in preparation for egg laying. Eggs should appear sometime in next few days if not already. The falcons typically lay between 3 or 4 eggs, spaced 1-3 days apart. They don’t start incubating until they’ve laid their next to last egg. Both adults take turns incubating the eggs, which hatch in about 29-33 days after incubating starts in earnest. During incubation, prey is brought into the nest box by the foraging adult for the pair to share. The pair will exchange incubation duties about every 30 minutes to an hour. During incubation eggs are repositioned and rolled, this often occurs after an incubating exchange.