Will Today Be Hatch Day at the Pitt Peregrine Nest?

What’s she looking at? Carla huddles over the eggs, 11:42am, 23 April 2026 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh) Friday, 24 April 2026 Since Thursday morning Carla has been very fidgety on the eggs, often hunched over them with her back feathers raised and her wings in a protective position. Before she settles down she rocks side to side and peers under her belly. What is she looking at? Carla can hear one or more of her chicks tapping inside their eggshells, working their way toward making a pip and ultimately hatching. [From inside the egg] Hatching is an energetically demanding process. The young chick uses its egg tooth, a small knob on top of its bill, to hammer a pip (hole) in the egg. It periodically works to break the egg around the pip area, but rests much of the time. The entire process from initial pip to hatch can take up to 72 hours. All the eggs in a Peregrine Falcon clutch generally hatch “synchronously” (within 24–48 hours for a clutch…