Plume de Ville
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From day to day.
May 1st
Some grey,
a little rain, some sunshine, 14 °C.
9th
day of
hatching. Again these little green things that seem to be fresh leaves.
He continues
his comings and goings.
OK,
I know:
the menu is not very varied.
Promised,
tomorrow I will try the caterpillar!
2 May
A
little
mist in the morning and then superb weather. 14 -21 °C.
Tasting in the nest box.
She entered
the nest box with her prey. She starts by observing her eggs, hey no,
they are
not yet hatched, and then gobbles his spider.
(The video
is from the 29th, I did not
had the time to watch all).
A
cousin,
the long tailed tit, just as busy hunting caterpillars.
[Aegithalos caudatus]
It
is a
small cousin of tits, it does not belong to the same family
(Aegithalidae family
instead of Paridae). It builds its nest in the fork of a tree. A superb
nest ball
shaped, closed, built of lichen, bark and spiders silk, filled with
feathers,
with a hole exit.
This small ball of feathers is all the time in motion. She lives within
big the
families. You see one, then two, then three, then ... a dozen, often in
an Indian
file, perching where the previous one did, just a moment and then fly
off.
(Bois de Vincennes)
4 May
Beautiful
weather, beautiful, beautiful, like yesterday. Sun, blue sky, 24
°C perfect.
She
still broods. She is impatient, often rises, make a short tour outside.
Stays
often at her window. He passes regularly with many large green
caterpillars.
He has just
signalled his presence.
She leaves the nest bowl, and lazily comes to the door.
He enters
and gives her the caterpillar.
Once the
caterpillar is eaten, she leaves.
Leaving
him
there.
Shall
I follow?
Well, she
leaved?
She is not here,
shall I have a quick glance.
Yes, on reflection, it's now or never.
Well!
A few
seconds of contemplation.
He does not often has an opportunity like this one to see the brood.
Ok, coming,
coming.
The hatching
approaches. Normally on Tuesday, but I will begin to monitor closely
tomorrow.
Here is again
the morning singer. Tonight he paid us a very long visit, perched on
the
opuntia (not in good shape cactus, it suffered during the winter).
Visit
punctuated by incessant "pink-pink-pink." It is so beautiful and,
even if the melody is a bit dull compared to his singing in the
morning, all in
variations.
5 May
Beautiful red sun this morning. Blue sky. Nice day, 24 °C
She still broods;
turning regularly the eggs, head plunged into the nest bowl. Breathing
fresh
air at her window. She brings every day some new fresh leaves.
The rose
buds begin to open.
The passage
of caterpillar is sometimes difficult to make. For this beautiful brown
prey, he
will take a long time to release. Both pulling the bug each in another
direction.
Wanted to ensure that the hold was good, or wanted to share?
The prey is big and round, not easy to hold. Looking closely, one end
is
already crunched, it looks like a headless bug.
Handover.
Perfect, this one.
Operation complete.
15h53, and
Bebe1 is hatching.
I nearly failed to see it. In previous years, females had a
characteristic
attitude, attentive for a while, seeming to listen, waiting at the edge
of the nest
bowl, a little aside of its eggs. And we saw clearly the egg before the
hatching. This year the eggs are hidden for the first hatchings.
My attention was fortunately drawn by the fact that it has her head in
the nest
bowl. Nothing exceptional in that, but she moves very delicately and
seems to
eat something. I start the video, you never know.
Yes
she
eats something. A tiny piece of white. She intervenes very early, just
as the
egg begins to crack, and she cuts a tiny piece that she eats. She opens
the
egg. But alas, she hides the nest bowl, we see very little. She assists
the
chick and eases it out of its shell, which she eats immediately.
First
appearance of number 1. The egg at the top right.
It is not easy to see.
The confirmation arrives only when we saw the piece of shell that she
swallows
with difficulty, doesn't goes easily. Then she moves a little, and we
see better
number 1. I greatly shortened the video, the original last 4mn.
A large black
closed eyeball. They open their eyes only after a dozen days.
And the second
piece of shell found, is swallowed
It's just
three minutes old and already it opens its beak. But his mother thinks
more
important to warm up him first, he and the eggs remaining to hatch.
It will wait until 16h16 for his first feeding.
16h16?
It's
just after the hatching, and he just comes with a huge caterpillar. And
his
signal also unleashed the pictures ...
No,
but do you realize the size? You overdid.
She
took a little bit and turned back! He remained nonplussed with its huge
bite. He ensconced himself and eventually devours it.
He
takes a
long time to finish his meal.
Meanwhile,
she feeds Number 1.
He
quickly understands
and brings now tiny caterpillars. The size is good. He can enter the
nest box.
His incessant comings and goings will begin. They will both participate
to the
feeding.
Delicacy of first feedings. Bebe1 is satiated and the
caterpillar ends eaten by the parents.
Watch
VIDEO (876ko 25s)
17h31:
birth of number 2. Again we do not see much because she hides the nest.
She just ate the shell, digestion seems a little difficult or something
outside
disturbs her, yet there is nothing visible.
Watch
VIDEO (712ko 14s)
18h09: turn of number 3.
18h19: No. 4
20h48: No. 5
will wait until the evening. This time we can see, at the
beginning of the video, the egg opens and that she enlarges the
opening. She
removes the 1st half shell, leaving him wearing the other half shell.
Watch
VIDEO (1580ko 1mns)
[The videos
are in IR. Of course, is more beautiful in colour but we did foresee
all. And
with the colour camera, and the position of lighting, when perch on the
edge of
the nest on one side, there is an ugly shade over the nest bowl and it
becomes
impossible to see any detail.]
6 May
Marvellous
day today.
5:50 in the morning, here is number six.
We had to
wait until 10 am this morning to get acquainted with number 7.
And his
small Chinese cap. Where he falls head first, projecting a leg.
The father
is there delicately and gently feeding his chicks. She comes with a
caterpillar. She gives it to the chicks; he has not yet finished.
"There!
give me your caterpillar, I will do faster. Return to work!"
Watch
VIDEO (950ko 29s)
"I nevertheless
told him that it should be small caterpillars!"
He
finds himself a little embarrassed by a too large prey and a feather
still
bigger.
The mother withdraws the big caterpillar from the small throat and
crunches it soften
it.
A
little takes the position and presents its bottom. A small bag go out,
the faecal
bag that is recovered by the mother. For now she eats (yes, everything
is
useful). Later the bag will be removed and thrown away from the nest by
one of
the parents. Cleanliness is the norm among tits.
The
nest stays clean.
The feather? The father annoyed ("What an idea what she keep such things!") threw it out. Look at the video you will see why.
Incredible! Gee, he fights for cleaning up!
Watch VIDEO (572ko 13s)
