She had a long day before that…with lots of laying in the nest bowl...hanging out with Shadow in the nest for a few hours…having to bicker with Shadow to get each of the 2 fish he brought away from him…being taunted by ravens swooping in to sit on the front of the nest with Jackie standing right there (or maybe they were being neighborly and asking ‘is today the day?’)…looking very eggy while Shadow was there with her as she laid in the nest bowl, but faking everyone out by leaving the nest right after Shadow did…
…and then returning in 3 minutes! Maybe she thought she could wait until morning, but quickly changed her mind…and her first signs of labor started within 20 minutes.
Her feathers fluffing up gave the first signal that it was happening. Then the ‘teakettling’ started—as she pushes the egg through her body, she makes small, squeaky sounds, similar to a tea kettle when it steams. And finally with one big last push, an egg appeared behind her.
After a few minutes to recover, Jackie turned to check the egg, roll it, and finally settle down on top of it.
The egg had a bit of blood on it…the blood was from Jackie as the egg’s emergence gave her a small injury, not unusual and she’ll be fine. The egg had some wet streaks when it first emerged, from coming through the moisture in her system. And after it landed in the soft, moist fluff that Jackie brought earlier this morning, it got some black streaks—not cracks, just streaks from moist lake plants.
The egg and Jackie are both fine. Congratulations to her for an efficient, smooth delivery! And thank you to Shadow for letting her have the fish so she was fed and ready to start the incubation this evening.
Now we will get to watch and see Shadow’s reaction when he sees the egg for the first time tomorrow!
Enjoy!
Sandy
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