3 chicks in the nest!

Two more eggs have hatched, one just before 9 p.m. last night and the other sometime overnight or early this morning! All looks good and Scout is getting the hang at feeding them:


I was finally able to post video clips from yesterday. The videos have varing degrees of distortion and it doesn't appear that the audio copied so there is room for improvement as I figure out the Camtasia and Google Video systems (keep in mind I'm a biologist, not a technology expert!). But, nonetheless it's fun to see and archive some of the early moments: 1st chick and 1st feed

What to expect from this point on? Scout (and Orville on occasion) will continue to brood the chicks to keep them warm but you'll notice she won't be sitting as tight as she did during incubation. Instead of 3 still objects under her she now has 3 squirming, wiggling chicks and keeping them warm will appear much different to the viewer than the incubation duty did! The brooding process will keep the 4th egg warm also so it is still possible the last egg will hatch. But, if the unhatched egg is the first egg laid we have our doubts. If it doesn't hatch it will eventually be cast aside and we'll remove it from the nest box at banding. By the way, the object on the ledge is a casting-a reguritated mass of undigested bones and feathers. Everyone is very happy that this nest looks to be progressing on a good note!