Cathedral of Learning ~ 2014

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

11:50 - mating....

There's that car engine that just won't turn over...

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

Approx 3pm - Something landed near the box and I could see the shadow (just above it). It got Dorothy's attention, by not answering her call. She started alarm chupping (just like Beauty), and quickly took off. E2 is currently in with the egg.

I couldn't get volume up, but have a recording of her leaving.

3:34 - E2 waiting/listening for the all clear from Dorothy.

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

4:12 - obviously everything is fine. My cam timed out, opened it up to loud mating noises!

:sham4:

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64402

According to their FB page, I think you probably heard a mating session, Carly... :sum8:

I wish I knew what was going on with her. I've had the cam up a lot today. She doesn't appear to be in distress...she's been preening and napping and picking at pebbles...and obviously mating...hee hee...

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64402

catwoman · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:43 pm

I've been watching her for a little bit & still 1 egg. I agree that she doesn't seem to be in distress (thank goodness)! She looks very heavy in the bottom.

catwoman · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:11 pm

There was just another canoodle. I see what mw means when she says it sounds like a car trying to start & failing. Its the quality of the microphone.

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

2:30 - E2 has been with egg & Dorothy has been screaming her head off, calling for him. He finally went out to her after about 20 minutes and there was just a canoodle.

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

carly wrote:

I checked in this morning before I came to work. I wonder how long they'll keep trying? Mind you other falcons have had up to a week between eggs but just hate to see the toll it takes on them.

It seems E2 is more interested in incubating the egg than Dorothy.

I noticed something in the box the other day... towards the front, under the perch, there is a reddish colored something. That wasn't there before. I don't know if it's debris, if it is from prey, or if maybe it is a broken egg? No clue, but wondering if that is what she was trying to pass.

This photo is from Sunday, 3/23 at 7:30pm ET

The next morning 3/24/14 at 9:37am ET:

Box at 2:43pm - I've added pointer to red spot:

If that was the egg she was working on, could explain why they are still mating and still trying...

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64402

Very interesting, mwplay...did you see the post that DEF made about the egg at Aalsmeer!!?

The second egg had NO Shell...I have never, ever seen that before. The pics are on FB...I hope you can see them.

(click on the pics to enlarge)

I had to go back and look, but remember Columbus, 2008..Scout's first egg was 3/29. She didn't lay her second egg until 4/6. That first egg was practically ignored, but all 4 eggs hatched that year. that was Boomer's year... :flirty:

catwoman · **Posted:** Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:42 pm

skygirlblue wrote:

Very interesting, mwplay...did you see the post that DEF made about the egg at Aalsmeer!!?

The second egg had NO Shell...I have never, ever seen that before. The pics are on FB...I hope you can see them.

(click on the pics to enlarge)

Wow, that was strange! :girlcrazy:

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64402

I know!!! strange, strange, strange...I know the shell is the last thing to form...and is put on as its making its way down the reproductive tract (whatever its called)

catwoman · **Posted:** Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:51 pm

It occurs to me that Dorothy hasn't started incubating the egg yet, so she must think she'll lay at least a couple more eggs.

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

skygirlblue wrote:

Very interesting, mwplay...did you see the post that DEF made about the egg at Aalsmeer!!?

The second egg had NO Shell...I have never, ever seen that before. The pics are on FB...I hope you can see them.

(click on the pics to enlarge)

Wow - I've never seen nor heard about that before.

Looking at dates, it appears she laid first on 3/18, then the shell-less egg on 3/21. 3 days.. Same timeframe for Dorothy... First egg 3/20. 3/24 AM, see red spot.

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

Okay... looking at the box... There are 2 things that stand out...

1) the reddish spot
2) the white spot in front. Small, I thought it was bird poop on pebbles - may very well be, especially since she's been pooping in the box so much (which I thought was weird).

The white spot showed up in the same picture as the red spot.

I looked back at video archives. on 3/24 close to 5AM, Dorothy jumped to the perch. She turned around facing the back of the box & her tail hanging down in front of green grass area. It still looked like she was contracting a little.

So, now, I wonder if that white pebble is possible bad part of egg? Especially since the white poop is also pink tinged. Not like I know anything about bird poop, but just pointing it out.

Here's the blown up pic I just took. And again, those spots first appear on 3/24 early AM.

Matrix · **Posted:** Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:21 pm

Thanks for posting those pics... She is behaving alot like Renetta did. Hope things turn out differently for Dorothy.

catwoman · **Posted:** Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:03 pm

Matrix wrote:

Thanks for posting those pics... She is behaving alot like Renetta did. Hope things turn out differently for Dorothy.

I didn't get to watch Renetta as much as others did, but I thought she wasn't very active & just pretty much stayed in the box. It was hard to tell whether she was distressed because the cam was a refresh one. Also, we thought something was wrong before Dorothy laid the first egg too. Just trying to calm myself as well as others. This is the first time I've watched an older falcon laying eggs, so maybe this is normal. :girlsad3:

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64402

Let me add my 2 cents worth. Dorothy is behaving nothing like Renetta, Renetta was fine until the very end (maybe the last 24 hrs?...I'd have to go back and look) She was in and out of the box like normal, chasing Mitchell out, preening, doing all normal stuff. It was all very sudden. The reason she was down in the box at the very end was because her uterus had already prolapsed and sadly, it was the beginning of the end. Renetta was young and if I remember correctly, no actual egg was found. Of course, that didn't rule out the possibility that something happened and she dropped it out of cam view. I don't believe any other injuries were found.

maybe all of this is age related. She's eating, preening, canoodling and she looks good. At least right now, I don't think she's in any distress. I think the cams distort what goes on. There have been several times when I thought she was in labor, but nope. Sometimes she "rocks" and that throws me off because I think she's going into labor.

What I also find puzzling is she obviously thinks more eggs are coming or she would be incubating...Maybe there's something hormonal going on. That was the theory with Aria and Vento in Rome. She laid 2 eggs and stopped...but, neither started incubating so they put 2 dummy eggs in the box to see if they could trick her into thinking the clutch was complete....and it worked. She didn't lay any more eggs, but they both started incubating!!

I guess time will tell and hopefully everything will turn out ok!!

Right now she's dozing...

mwplay · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:15 am **Posts:** 10250

10:45am -

Probably my imagination, but if I didn't know any better, looked like Dorothy was pushing to me, not just rocking.

And SGB - I know what you mean about the rocking...

10:47 and she's laying down. I don't know... can't figure this out.

11:10am - she's laying down now

And she's up... Maybe she's got indigestion... Her crop is pretty full!

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 64402

Thanks for sharing Kate's post, Carly. I like that term, "hen-o-phase"..I so remember that second hatchling. So very sad to watch it struggle.

The fact that she has spent some time on the egg is a slight change (of course she's up now..LOL) It was interesting watching her last night. She'd go through all the motions of "getting" on the egg, then she'd get up. Then she'd go through the process of doing that all over again.

I certainly hope that if this egg hatches, then the chick will be healthy.

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Cathedral of Learning ~ 2014

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