January 10th @7pm: the resident male returned to CahowCam1 and greeted his mate, then somewhat gently, started jostling and arguing as to who gets to incubate their egg.
Mystery Cahow attack on Jan 9th
This is in sharp contrast to the interactions the night before between the resident female and a mystery Cahow (we are still not sure if it was this mate or an invader), which can be best described as an all-out 6 hour battle that was most distressing to watch for the team and online followers…
In past years, this particular pair have been known to literally fight over who gets to incubate the egg, to the point that they sometimes damage it, contributing to their 50% failure rate, but last night’s fight was most extreme and literally went on for hours, to the point that we were worried about the birds, and the egg.
It is possible (and Jeremy believes) that it was this mate, and that she REALLY did not want him to take over, and he just wouldn’t give up, but watching their more traditional low-key arguing tonight (at least as of 9pm), which is what we have come to expect over the past 14 years watching them, there is such a contrast in behaviors, that last night’s visitor might have been another invading male…
Watch the LiveStream in real-time below now: