Re: Incubation Dec. 5 ,2013 07:45

Posted by NewMexiKen on Dec 05, 2013; 6:36pm
URL: http://bald-eagles-of-broward-county-florida.17.s1.nabble.com/Incubation-Dec-5-2013-07-45-tp7573244p7573245.html

Great news, Al--

We stopped by twice between errands around 10 AM and also found the female sitting quite low in the nest. The male was not around. In the past she would be so low when incubating that sometimes she was out of sight. This time her head and part of neck were readily visible, facing to the left. Maybe the nest cup is not as deep as in previous years. Last year the left rim was built up quite high and often obscured the incubating adult.

Once laid we can expect them to be covered nearly continuously. The female will be on the eggs most of the time, but the male may incubate about 1/4 of the time. Both develop bare brood patches on their breasts to keep the eggs warm.

If she or the male consistently are sitting low from this point on we can start counting out the 35 days until the the first chick hatches. If today is day zero, look for the chick around Friday, January 10th.

Here's where a nest camera would have really helped. As we must depend upon ground observations, please keep watch and report their behavior to see if we have pinpointed the day.