By the time you read this, it is possible that Harriett and M15 will have experienced the hatching of at least one of their eaglets.

Or maybe not.

That is the big question many Southwest Florida Eagle Cam (SWFEC) watchers are asking as the hatch date arrives for the two bald eagles, which was expected to happen just after Christmas following its 35-day incubation period.

Egg E9, which was laid on Nov. 22, got buried in the nest and wasn’t retrieved by the eagles until shortly after E10 was laid three days later.

The question is: Did E9 get the required incubation from its parents to remain viable, even if the weather was warm enough? Only time will tell.

Harriet and M15 have diligently taken turns incubating their young by maintaining the necessary 105-degree temperature the embryos need for proper development.

When E9 was buried in the nest, it may not have gotten that required heat to remain viable. The eagles tend to rotate their eggs during the course of incubation to make sure the yolk does not rise to the egg surface and the delicate blood vessels that cover the yolk touch and stick to the shell surface, killing the developing chick.

Turning the egg also ensures the eggs get the proper heat throughout, which they couldn’t when the egg was buried in their new nest.

Temperatures during that time were above normal, but how much warmth the egg got from that is unknown.

Harriet and M15 have continued to nurture their eggs despite that, and will continue to do so until they feel movement and the chick scratches the inside surface of the egg.

According to David Hancock of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation, the eaglet scores the inside of the shell with its “egg tooth,” a small calcium spike on the top of the bill, to break out.

This (the internal pip) pierces the membrane separating the developing chick from the air bubble above the chick. With the chick’s beak now accessing the small amount of air in that chamber, the chick takes its first breath.

Further air filters into the chamber through the porous egg shell. From this breath the chick gets a burst of energy and scratches a hole through the egg shell to the outside, called the external pip.

With access to air, the chick starts the final process of hatching, further scratching the inside of the shell in a circular path, weakening it as it goes.

With this weak line around the shell the chick gives a few bursts and the shell parts to hatch.

Within a few hours, the egg tooth dries up and falls off. In a few more hours the chick dries off and appears as a fluffy white ball.

During the last two or three days before hatching, the parents can hear and feel activity inside the egg and will watch the egg closely.

Once the hatchling has begun to breathe, it will make soft calls that the adults can hear.

Viewers can track all the action of “Hatch Watch 2016” by following SWFEC’s countdown clock and by going onto the SWFEC website to witness it up close.

Since its inception in September 2012, the SWFEC has received more than 60 million views from more than 190 countries worldwide.