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What’s Happening at the Nest?
The fourth and final egg for 2025 was laid on March 26th and as such the falcons have now moved on to the incubation phase of the nesting season.
Incubation means that Falcon Fans are just about guaranteed to see one of the adults on camera at all times as the eggs are generally not left unattended for extended periods of time during incubation exchanges. Both the male and the female take shifts incubating and thus have developed paired brood patches (featherless patches of skin on the bird’s breast which aid in incubation). By selectively losing these feathers, more direct contact area is created with the skin of the adult bird’s breast and thus the numerous warm blood vessels which are used to maintain the eggs temperature. Although the brood patches are obscured by an outer layer of feathers and therefore not visible to Cam watchers, you may observe the incubating bird shifting its position or shimmying atop the eggs. These movements allow the bird to better position the eggs to ensure maximum contact with their brood patches.
Peregrine falcon eggs are incubated for roughly 33-35 days which means we should expect to see our first signs of hatching around April 24th-April 26th.
The falcons during an incubation exchange. The male, 59/BM, comes in to temporarily relieve the female, 95/AK from sitting atop the eggs.
The Richmond female, 95/AK, has started laying with the first egg observed exactly one year later from when she first started laying last year! Peregrine Falcon clutches average 3-4 eggs in size, but five-egg clutches are laid occasionally.
Falcon eggs are typically laid in intervals of 48 to 72 hours so pay close attention to the Falcon Cam on Friday (3/28) to see if a fifth egg is laid. We will be providing all egg laying updates as the occur, so be sure to check back regularly!
First Egg: The first egg of 2025 was laid on 3/18 at approximately 9:17 AM.
Second Egg: The second egg was laid on 3/20 at approximately 8:35 PM.
Third Egg: The third egg was laid on 3/23 at approximately 1:02 PM.
Fourth Egg: The fourth egg was laid on 3/26 at approximately 12:40 AM.
During this time, viewers may notice that the eggs are periodically left uncovered. This behavior is normal for peregrine falcons as true incubation often does not begin until the second to last egg is laid. By delaying the start of incubation, the eggs will hatch closer together resulting in the chicks developing at roughly the same pace.
We will continue to update this post in the coming days with additional information as more eggs are laid.
The Richmond female, 95/AK, seconds after laying her third egg on Sunday, March 23rd.
Welcome to the 2025 season of the Richmond Falcon Cam! We’ve been keeping an eye on the camera the past few weeks and have observed both the female (95/AK, silver band on right leg) and the male (59/BM, green band on right leg) from recent years on camera almost daily. This pair has been nesting here since 2021 and have raised four chicks together every year since then. Although peregrines can switch nesting sites within their broad territory over time, based on their behavior so far, we anticipate that the pair will nest on cam again this year. The female has moved up the timing of her egg laying a little bit each year, with the first egg laid on March 28 in 2021, and on March 18 in 2024. We expect egg laying to begin sometime around mid-March this year. Until then, be on the look out for the birds as they periodically stop by the nest box throughout the day.
Since 2017 our partner Comcast Business has provided the internet connection that powers the Richmond Falcon Cam – we are grateful for their continued support of this wildlife viewing opportunity!
The male (59/BM) perches on the building’s parapet ledge on March 10th, 2025.
During the Falcon Cam offseason, we received updates on two of the chicks that were raised on camera last year. Unfortunately, female 99/BK (last year’s ‘Yellow’) was found dead along a rural roadside in Westminster, MD in mid-August of 2024, roughly two months after fledging from her Richmond nest 150 miles away. Based on the condition of the bird, the person who made the discovery judged it to have been dead for quite some time. They did not retrieve the bird, and a cause of death could not be determined.
92/BN (‘Red’ from the 2024 brood) stretches on a tree branch at Echo Lake Park (Richmond, Virginia) in January of 2025.
On a more positive note, male 92/BN (‘Red’) was spotted in the greater Richmond area on January 26 of this year. The bird was documented by a local birder and photographer at Echo Lake Park, only some 12 miles from downtown Richmond. You may remember that, following banding, Red had a small mass removed from one of his eyelids at the Wildlife Center of Virginia last year, so we are heartened to know that he is doing well.
We look forward to reporting on the falcons throughout their nesting season this year and welcome you to join us on this journey! If you want to receive falcon updates directly to your inbox, you can join our subscriber list on out our Falcon Cam homepage. This page also includes links to our FAQs as well as archived posts that outline the events of previous seasons.
- Read more updates in the archive…
Internet service to the Falcon Cam provided courtesy of Comcast Business.
The DWR Falcon Cam follows the breeding season of a peregrine falcon pair that nests in downtown Richmond, Virginia. The nest box is located atop the Riverfront Plaza building. If you’re in the area, look up! You may catch a glimpse of the famous birds! We hope each year that the pair will once again choose to nest at this site, so that our camera may provide an educational experience for all to enjoy.