We have a pair of kestrels nesting in our box, which has a webcam inside of it streaming video / pictures to our server. Everything seemed to be going great (this is our first nesting attempt) but now I'm wondering if something has gone wrong. We had a giant snowstorm last Saturday / Sunday and the pair spent two whole days in or on the box. We got about 1.5 feet of snow so I worried that they didn't have access to anything to eat during that time. Monday, April 18 came and the snow melted and we saw her eat at least twice. On Tuesday morning the female laid an egg but hasn't laid any more eggs (it's now Sunday, April 24) and is not spending much time on the egg at all -- it seems like she's spending less time on it each day. We see her around, but she comes back in the box for an hour or so at a time and then leaves. Last night, she spent the night in the box as usual but spent the whole night sitting NEXT to the egg rather than ON it. The male has not spent any time incubating the egg that I have seen. What's going on? Do we have teen parents who don't know what to do? Did the snowstorm / two days without food cause the female to reabsorb the other eggs and check out with the one she did lay? What should we expect? Is there anything we can do?
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Comments:
Hello!
Hello!
It is normal for kestrels to not begin incubating eggs until all eggs are laid. Kestrels typically lay one egg every other day, and then once the full clutch is laid, incubation begins. Not being incubated right after being laid does not harm the undeveloped embryo, it just puts a pause on the development. This makes it so kestrels hatch close together in timing.
Just keep an eye out and watch for the second egg!
-Delora
Thank you for the reassurance
Thank you for the reassurance! I was super worried!
I wanted to give an update -
I wanted to give an update - egg 2 came along on 4/25, egg 3 came 4/27, and egg 4 came on 5/2. The male and female are both incubating now, although the female spends much more time in the nest. I'm a happy bird watcher :)