Hatch

It’s been an exciting few days at the Cornell hawk-cam. On Sunday, the first hatchling pipped its way out. Thousands of people watched as it worked all day trying to get out of its shell. Then a second egg pipped.

There was no sighting of the actual chick to signify completion of the task. Then Monday dawned snowy. It was kind of horrifying to see Big Red, who had apparently been entirely buried in snow at some points overnight, incubating in a snow fort. Not that snow is any surprise to a nesting upstate New York redtail… but what a day for a delicate hatchling to emerge into!

Finally, after a marathon period on the eggs, Big Red got a break when Ezra returned to the nest near 2:00, and viewers got their first glimpse of the new chick.

The second egg still hasn’t fully hatched, and no pip has been spotted on the third egg. Most of the excitement has been in watching the feeding sessions with the new hawklet. Amazing to see the tenderness of those large, fierce birds with their wobbly fluffball.

It’s been pretty captivating to watch. We’ve had the livestream feed on the computer most of the time so that we can keep tabs on what’s going on even as we go about our own daily business of feeding and teaching and “nesting.” As hawk fans and students of nature, it’s been a tremendous opportunity to see how another species meets the challenges of daily living with a devotion that’s nothing short of inspiring.

Nice job, Red and Ezra!

*Note: Images are screen captures I’ve gotten from Cornell’s web cam. Cornell encourages sharing, but to use such images commercially requires their permission.