Berry College Bald Eagle Nest on Hatch Watch!

I'm going to call it: Hatch watch is on at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest. Shortly before hatching, the babies start to move around in the egg. The air sac inside the egg is punctured and the baby gets its first breath of air. At this point, they begin chirping. I believe the baby in the first egg has begun to move around in the egg and is possibly chirping. Mom has been very restless starting last night, coming off the eggs more often and looking at them. She must have been awake a lot last night, catching up on some sleep this morning:

In this picture, she is up and checking out the eggs. Not really doing an egg roll, but paying attention to them. I'm thinking movement and/or sound coming from the eggs.

Babies have an egg tooth on top of their bill. As they turn inside the egg, it cuts the shell and once the cut goes all the way around the baby can emerge from the shell. This is a long process. The first sign that hatching has begun is a pip hole. I actually typed the above in preparation for posting this later today. But I just saw a nest exchange: Dad has come in to incubate while Mom takes a break. I'm not sure if this is a pip hole or if it's debris on the egg. I'll be looking for it again and see if it moves with the egg during a roll or if it's gone... This is Dad on the left and Mom is backing out of the nest bowl. The possible pip is in the center of the top egg.

Just the eggs... Is that a pip?!

Dad is getting ready to settle down on the eggs:

There has been some concern about Mom Berry's leg/foot this year. She has seemed ok to me. Regardless, I had a chance to take this picture of her when she hopped up onto the branch to take off out of the nest. She seems ok to me.