Minnesota FalconCam Catches Acadia’s Surprising Rare Fifth Egg

It's hard to believe, but she has surprised us all. Acadia the Falcon on our Minnesota DNR FalconCam has FIVE eggs in the nest.

This is a first for the Minnesota DNR FalconCam.

ACADIA HAS SURPRISED US ALL WITH EGG NUMBER FIVE!

I've been watching this nest daily for the past month, and wouldn't you know, the moment I think that Acadia is done laying all her eggs, she hits us with another one.

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Yesterday, I could never catch Acadia off of her eggs, so I assumed that she laid her four eggs and that she was honed in on incubation at this point. But alas! They say that peregrine falcons don't actually start incubating their eggs until the next-to-last egg is laid.

Her behavior was odd to me, as she DID appear to be spending a bit more time on the nest after egg number 3, but then the next day, I'd find the nest empty on many occasions, with the eggs exposed; falcon parents guarding from afar.

RELATED STORIES: MN FALCON CAM UPDATE: 4 EGGS FOR ACADIA!

ACADIA IS SUDDENLY VERY ATTENTIVE TO HER NEST

This time, after egg number four, I could barely get a glimpse of what was happening, as she is very attentive, as in years past.

This afternoon, I received a notice from the Minnesota DNR that on Tuesday, April 28th, someone on staff had spotted egg number 5 sometime yesterday afternoon.

According to the MN DNR, it's very rare for a midwestern falcon to lay 5 eggs; yet this is the year our Acadia has done it. It's the 11th year in this nesting box for our St. Cloud-born female falcon, who is now 13 years old.

ACADIA IS IN HER 11TH YEAR OF NESTING

I was all worried that Acadia may be at the end of her egg-laying years. It seemed to me that she was late in laying the first egg; so I was honestly surprised when we ended up with three eggs in the nest. Now! I realize that Acadia is simply a Falcon Rockstar.

WHEN WILL OUR FALCON EGGS HATCH?

We now know that incubation of the eggs started on April 26th. We should expect to see hatching eggs somewhere around May 29th through May 31st. Last year, Acadia and her beau successfully raised all four of their young; three girls and a boy. Although it's exciting to see five eggs in the nest, we can only hope that all of them will hatch and that all of them will survive.

Stay tuned for the next chapter.