Egg #1

We have an egg!  She popped the little nature miracle out sometime in the past hour... say between 9 - 10 AM.  I may have been watching when it happened, if so it was very subtle.  I only know there is an egg there because I got a glimpse of it when she was turning it.

Mr. Finch has now assumed the role of provider. When he comes to the nest to feed her she acts just like a little chick. She flutters her wings and opens her mouth wide.  Sooner or later I'll get a video of the feeding.

Mrs. Finch on the nest.

As she keeps her egg warm she makes a chirping sound almost constantly. It's too high a pitch for my old ears to hear but Ginger can hear it well... might be a good thing I can't hear it considering the amount of time I spend at my computer lately.

According to what I've read the average number of eggs is 4 and we can expect another tomorrow morning. Should start a pool for the number of eggs.

More coming as things develop.

Wait!!! She just left the nest! Checking the outside temperature I see it's 45 and breezy. The egg is not visible to the webcam but I got a few pictures from my digital camera. Here is the best of the lot.

You can click on the picture to view at original size. The egg has a slight blue
tint to it.

It's been almost 30 minutes since Mrs. Finch flew the coop... ahh nest. I did see a hawk fly over the yard around rooftop height. Maybe that's what spooked her. Of course now I'm concerned about the viability of the egg and also wondering if she will be back to lay more.

Stay tuned... 

Update: It took an hour or so but I finally found something about incubation of finch eggs. This little snippet seems to address my concern above... incubation does not begin until the parents start sitting, which frequently will not happen until the 3rd or 4th egg is laid, or sometimes the entire clutch.

Now isn't that something?

Whoohoo!