Mrs. Doubtfire’s chicks hatch!
Today (and possibly last night), three chicks hatched at the Evanston nest. This is more or less the timeline:
3/28: First Egg
3/30: Second Egg
4/1: Third Egg
4/3: Fourth Egg
5/5: First (39 days), second (37 days), third chicks (35 days) hatch
I don’t have pictures of the third chick, but Evanston Peregrine Falcon Watch has tons! Mary, Matt and I will probably do our annual Evanston Pub Day next week, which is when we have generally been able to identify both adults. EPFW creator Deborah might join us as well, which would be fun!
Speaking of Deborah, we’ve received a number of emails from her regarding both the Evanston and Loyola falcons, so that’s been a great help. Deborah is still seeing the Loyola falcons, but we don’t know if they are nesting yet. Their territory, it seems, has moved north of Mundelin.
As for Evanston, I’m eager to find out whether our adults are Nona and Squawker. Deborah and I had a funny email conversation about this:
Steph: Can’t wait to find out for sure whether the parents are Nona and Squawker!
Deborah: I’m 100% sure about Nona, anyway – she’s very distinctive looking to me – and fairly certain about Squawker. I’m looking forward to the confirmation though…
Steph: Have you gotten a look at Nona’s bands at all? I agree, she’s got a distinctive … profile, would be the best way I’d say it!
Deborah: I haven’t gotten hold of a spotting scope on my own yet so, no – I’ve not been able to check the bands myself. As to Nona’s distinctive appearance – *dowdy* is the word that’s always come to mind. I say that with the greatest affection of course.
Wow, she hit it on the head. I’m not sure why, but “dowdy” sums up my own feelings perfectly! Something about her shape reminds me of … Mrs. Doubtfire? Weird.
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