Osprey Tales

What is going on Harriett?

Day one

The fully developed embryo breaks open the shell when it is time.

Since the beak and the claws are not fully developed, birds have an “egg tooth.”

In birds, the process of breaking open the eggshell is referred to as pipping.

When a chick becomes too large to absorb oxygen through the pores of its eggshell, it uses its egg tooth to peck a hole in the air sac located at the flat end of the egg. This sac provides a few hours’ worth of air, during which the chick breaks through the eggshell to the outside. The egg tooth falls off several days after hatching

4:38 PM

5 minutes old

Speculation is running high over the next big event in our story.

Expectant parents

Osprey eggs hatch in the same order as they are laid. It takes about 35-37 days for the chicks to emerge, but cases have been recorded of up to 43 days.

How well the parent birds carry out their incubation duties influence hatch dates.

Harriett and Jonathan have been breeding together for years. It shows in their coordinated coverage of the nest.

Does wet rainy weather effect hatch dates? The Doctor does not know.

So, taking all that into account, the Doctor is predicting that the first egg will hatch tomorrow.

After the stormPurple martin house

Harriett’s platform

and

North River double rainbow

“A good day to have a baby.”