Amazing footage has been captured of a falcon chick making its entrance into the world.
The tiny lanner falcon was caught on camera as it cracks open its egg then drops exhausted. The crucial last 10 minutes of the process which takes two to three days was recorded by Roxanne Peggie of Elite Falconry.
She had gone to her house adjoining the falconry centre, where the incubators are kept, and saw that the chick was about to hatch.
Roxanne grabbed her camera and the film she made has been watched by hundreds of people on Facebook.
Partner Barry Blyther owner of the centre, at Cluny Mains Farm, near Kirkcaldy said: “She had just gone back in to check on the eggs and saw this one was about to hatch, so she was in the right place at the right time.
“Just catching those last 10 minutes is really uncommon, which is why Roxanne had the presence of mind to film it. We have a lot of followers and people are really enthralled by it.
In the Facebook post, the centre said: “This is the moment a new baby Lanner falcon comes into the world from a long dark time developing inside the egg. Behold the miracle of life.”
Hatching birds use an egg ‘tooth’ on their bill to cut their shells from inside. Just before hatching, they develop a temporary muscle in the back of their neck and they turn round, rubbing and tapping, to cut a ring in the shell. They then push the shell apart to emerge.
Mr Blyther added: “It’s absolutely exhausting for them. Every bit of energy they have goes into the effort required to go all the way round inside the shell, making a series of holes and cracks.
“It’s three days of non-stop work. If you were to pick up the egg and put it to your ear, you would hear the chick’s constant tapping.”
The chick who is yet to be named is to spend several days in the incubator before being returned to his or her mother, Ruby, a member of the rare feldeggii subspecies.
Eggs are removed from their mothers if they have not proven themselves as parents, as often the birds of prey neglect or even eat their eggs.