Our new total, as of yesterday:

15 chicks
2 pipping
6 have not started pipping, but the parents have had chicks before
2 nests have new parents, it is unknown if they will be successful but they definitely are male/female couples

Other couples are female/female pairs, which usually do not produce fertile eggs, and some nests have had bad eggs or were abandoned for other unknown reasons.

Last year we had 10 chicks. Without question this is a very fruitful year for Princeville.

KP943 and her new chick

WhA172 and her chick

KP462 came back to her nest to relieve her mate, K673. K673 had been at the nest for just 2 days, although from the amount of mud she had accumulated one would think she was there for a much longer period.

KP462 comes to relieve K673 at the nest

When the chick is pipping or has hatched, the parents change much more frequently than they did when there was just an egg to sit on. At this stage they can find enough food close to Kaua’i to feed the tiny chick his pre-digested meals. As the chick grows and requires an increasing amount of food, the parents will forage further and further away from Hawaii and spend more and more time away from their growing young one.