Right after breakfast this morning Brian came over and told me that one of the gyrfalcons had laid the first egg of the season on March 18th, he was very excited, as was I, but there was more to come.

I asked if I could take a picture which we could use to start off a series of blog postings covering the laying of the first egg through to the time that the young gyrfalcon was ready to be delivered to another falconer.
Brian explained that it was a critical period right now and that it would be best to minimize disturbing the falcon at this time, he did however say I could take a picture, if I was quick, right after he opened a small door that is used to place a watering tray through.

This I did, I poked my camera lens through the small opening and quickly took a photo of the female followed by one of the male; neither of them was on the nest but you can see that the female did not like the intrusion.

Seeing as the nest was unattended Brian went inside the mews and looked at the nesting spot through a spy hole and you can guess how delighted he was to see that there are now two eggs! When all goes well, a gyrfalcon will lay an egg every second day for up to a total of four eggs.

I had one more photo op request, in my haste I did not photograph the nesting ledge so back we went to the small door for one more fast shot. I got it and this time the female gyrfalcon was checking out her eggs. It is not possible to see the eggs from this spot but for sure I will be photographing their heads soon after they pop them out of their shells, which is from 33 to 34 days after they are laid.

I also took a photo of a peregrine falcon in an adjacent mews, they are reputed to be the fastest flying of all birds and for sure they look good!

OK, this would have been the end of this short blog posting but Brian has just informed me that another pair of gyrfalcons have two eggs in their nest too! This means that both pairs produced eggs on the same day(s).
SIGNS OF SPRING! 

Related posts:

1. Gyrfalcon eggs
2. Just 10 days out of the shell!
3. Flying Falcons to the lure
4. May Long Weekend, and Beyond
5. Eggs a Pippin, Cranes a croaking!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 20th, 2010 at 3:01 pm and is filed under The Ranch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.