Which brings us to yesterday!

I peeked at the cam first thing in the morning. The "eggs" were pink, and wiggly. Well, three of them. If you know what you're looking at, there are three bare heads visible here.



By evening, all the eggs were hatched, and the feeding began. I could watch this all night. I almost did. Both parents are involved in the feeding - the male has a much darker head. The eggshells were apparently eaten for their mineral content, as are the "fecal sacs", which I have just been calling "poop". Apparently much of what is passed at this point is undigested food, and it is one way the parents get nourishment in between foraging for the young. Here are some shots I took last night with the webcam - excuse the focus problems, I'm not the camera buff, I'm the LOOK! Nature! Right THERE! buff. Well we all are, and the webcam is autofocus, so if it chooses to focus on one twig at the back of the nest, I don't know how to argue with it.



Above: one baby, looking like an alien.



Above: the hungriest one, on this trip



Above: the two hungriest ones, on this trip

It's just so fascinating. They raise those heads on their wet noodle necks and collapse all over each other and then, after the eating of the poop and the fussing about, the mama sits on them. Sometimes she stands up and stares at them, which cracks me right up. It's like she's acting on instinct most of the time, but every once in a while, a few more brain cells fire up and she just has to stare at them in wonder. Sometimes she leaves them for as long as 15 minutes, which makes me want to go hang up a sign saying "No hawks allowed!"



That's what happens when the papa comes while the mama is still there. Or when the mama decides she's had enough of that clicking sound coming from that black and silver thing.