The first crack appeared early Friday morning, starting a spectacle anticipated from the moment falcon watchers spotted the first peregrine egg in mid March.
The crack became a hole. In the hole appeared a grey-pink mass of flesh and underdeveloped feathers.
It takes only a few hours for the unsightly hatchling to become a fluffy white raptor chick.
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A falcon parent offers a helping beak as a chick emerges from an egg Saturday morning.
Hamilton Community Peregrine Project
One hungry chick was there for dinner on the 18th-floor ledge nest at the Downtown Sheraton Hotel Friday evening. Two chicks were fed Saturday morning. By Saturday evening, raptor parents Judson and McKeever will feed at least three.
McKeever laid four eggs between March 17 and 24.
Fluctuating weather during that time meant that McKeever started to brood “full time” before the fourth egg was laid, said Falcon Watch volunteers on the Hamilton Community Peregrine Project website. Generally, brooding full time starts when all eggs are laid so hatching happens at the same time.
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“The fourth egg was laid about two days after that. So, it is reasonable to assume that the fourth egg will hatch about two days after number three. That would be sometime Monday,” they added.
Hamilton Community Peregrine Project volunteers and others watching on two stationary cameras at falcons.hamiltonnature.org track the birds before and after fledging.
Falcon watch is still seeking eagle-eyed volunteers, to be trained at an orientation May. Volunteers watch the sky downtown as young peregrines learn to fly and fend for themselves. It has been an annual ritual ongoing for three decades.
Two hungry falcon chicks appear on the 18th-floor ledge nest at the Downtown Hamilton Sheraton Hotel Saturday morning.
The popular peregrines were officially designated Hamilton’s official bird in 2023, a designation that earns the city “bird friendly” points.
Falcon Watch, co-ordinated by the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club, have been monitoring and caring for the downtown raptors since 1995. In that time, over 60 chicks have fledged at the Sheraton nest.
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