From the website, translated with Google:
Quote:
This spring, the female in the cathedral laid her first egg on 3 March, the second on 6 March, the third on 8 March and the fourth on 10 March. Incubating started as normal, from the laying of the third egg.
This is typical: laying eggs never starts when the first or second egg is laid, otherwise the difference between the hatching of the first and the last egg would cause an important difference in age between the young falcons of the same nest.
With the danger that the older (s) dominate the little ones and possibly even kill them or eat their food so that the smallest ones become malnourished.
Exception to this rule: when the entire nest only consists of 2 eggs. This happened in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe during the first litter in 2014.
The female in the cathedral, in her 17th year, has laid four more eggs, which is considered the regular maximum for a Peregrine Falcon. Between her arrival in the spring of 2006 and 2017 she laid 49 eggs, including 2 litters of 3 eggs, 7 litters of 4 eggs and 3 litters of 5 eggs. A nest of 5 eggs is really highly exceptional for Peregrine falcons. For this bird, unlike other birds of prey species, the number of eggs is not related to the characteristics of the breeding biotope or to the number of possible prey. It is rather indicative for a female of a very special quality. A very special woman? Indeed! Viewing all the images recorded since the beginning of March taught us that the female of the cathedral has laid 5 eggs again this year! It happened on 13 March between 13.00 and 16.00.
INCREDIBLY.
Not satisfied with the title of the oldest of the brooding Peregrine Falcons, she still laid 5 eggs! The story does not stop here: on March 15 at 00:02 the recorded images show that the female bends her head to her chest, she moves her mouth between the feathers and gently removes a piece of scale. The morning photos confirm it: the male broods on 4 eggs and half an eggshell is next to him. What happened? It remains a mystery. However, it is certain that breaking this egg is not the result of a fight or another "violent" incident. The egg broke under the female while she was brooding. Has it been accidentally pierced by a claw? Is it the result of a deformed scale?
In Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, the egg laying took place as follows: when the camera was connected on March 12, there was already a first egg in the nest. The second egg was placed on 13 March, the third on 16 March and the fourth on 20 March. Breeding started on the morning of March 17.