11 Apr 23 — Day I-33 — First chick!

2023, breeding, hatching
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What a day!

I wasn’t really expecting the first chick to hatch today. I was expecting it to happen more like tomorrow or Thursday.

The day started a lot like yesterday with Tom doing a shift between 6.03 and 6.43. Then Azina took over. Tom brought her some food at 9.48 and she declined. She left for an unknown reason at 12.18 and an egg was pipped!

Pip visible on one of the eggs
Pip visible on one of the eggs

Tom took over incubation for 10 minutes. Azina returned and didn’t leave for the rest of the day. And it wasn’t for lack of trying on Tom’s part but she refused to budge every time he visited (usually with food).

When I looked back through the recordings, it’s possible that the egg was already pipped at 6.43 am but as it was on the side it’s hard to tell for sure. Likewise, when Azina took over from Tom, the pip was barely visible. It goes to show that luck has a big part in whether we get to see if an egg is pipped or not.

I was on a work call at 2.27 pm while keeping an eye on the camera and to my surprise Azina got up and revealed a wet chick!!! It must have just hatched around then.

First glimpse of a wet chick at 2.27 pm
First glimpse of a wet chick at 2.27 pm

An hour later another glimpse showed us a slightly fluffier chick and its head for the first time.

First glimpse of the chick's head at 3.25 pm
First glimpse of the chick’s head at 3.25 pm

At 5.02 pm, Tom desperately wanted to incubate and see his first chick but Azina didn’t agree to let him…

At 6.47 this evening when Tom brought yet more food that Azina refused but that gave us our first glimpse of the fluffy chick.

Fluffy chick under Mum
Fluffy chick under Mum

Azina has been so tight on the eggs and chick that it’s impossible to say if there are any more pips.

Shots for today:

10 Apr 23 — Days I-29 to I-32

2023, breeding
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Tom was doing long shifts at the beginning of the long weekend but this got seriously reduced today. From 5hr19 on Friday to only 1hr21 today. The reduction today could be due to the weather and today’s downpours and Azina preferring doing the most of the incubation in these conditions. But this also corresponds to Tom starting bringing prey after not doing so for three weeks. This is the exact same pattern as last year two days before hatching…
Here are a few shots from the last four days.

And a couple of videos:

6 Apr 23 — Day I-28

2023, breeding
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Just two video clips today.

Exchange on the porch then Azina feels the need to preen a little before incubating.

A bit of time with Tom as he incubates and makes himself comfortable on the eggs.

5 Apr 23 — Day I-27

2023, breeding
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Another case of persistence paying off 🙂 Azina came back 1hr31m later having stuffed herself 😉

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record but it’s been another quiet day 😉 Tom ended up doing a total 4hr21m over three shifts (though one was only 8 minutes long) and Azina will have done 19hr37m. She came back for her night shift with a very full crop, she’d put Tom’s shift to good use.

4 Apr 23 — Day I-26

2023, breeding
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Sometimes the begging works 😉 But it can be quite tough getting up when you’ve been lying down for nearly six hours…

Very quiet day today. Tom did three shifts totalling 3hr44 which is average. Azina did two day shifts and the night shifts. At the end of the day she’ll have incubated for 19hr16. The eggs were not left alone for one second 🙂

3 Apr 23 — Days I-23 to I-25

2023, breeding
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We are around three quarter of the way there now.

Not much to report, it’s been fairly routine. Except for one intruder I witnessed on Saturday evening but who was very quickly seen off by Azina. No messing about.

31 Mar 23 — Day I-22

2023, breeding
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Rainy day… And we got a repeat of Wednesday with few exchanges and long shifts with Azina doing one of six hours and Tom over three hours so he was back to over five hours in total. No sign of intruders 🙂

30 Mar 23 — Day I-21

2023, breeding
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Something worked up the pair around 1pm today but I couldn’t see what it was… (first five shots)

And a few more shots from today.

30 Mar 23 — More begging

2023, breeding
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Today was a light day for Tom incubation wise but it was not for lack of trying! This was his last try for the day, around 7pm, but Azina didn’t want to budge 😉