May 14th
Cloudy, light rain, 9°C, it still doesn't get any better!
Training.
"Super-tit" flutter the wings.
Work in pair.
And outside? How is it going?
Watch
VIDEO (2376ko, 28s)
Not a very good video, this is just a test with a webcam installed
behind the glass!
Bon appétit! Dad and his plump discoveries
May 15th
Slowly the weather improves, 12 °C, 14 °C. Sun this morning!
Super-tit does a little tour.
They even begin to bicker.
And the training continues, it grows strong wings.
As for mom, she "tosses" her people to clean always impeccably her home.
Wait your turn!
She has the priority and it's he who waits!
To go out and to enter.
Busy! She's already inside.
Most of the time, he'll wait and sometimes he'll enter together. But
seldom.
Fluttering wings.
May 16th
Shy Sun, a little cloudy, 14 °C -17
°C, better weather, at last.
Yesterday the 15th, the mother spent part of the night besides the
chicks.
It must be said that under her feathers, the little devils did not stop
fidgeting!
How to sleep?
Yesterday evening, after feeding her young, she left at 20:30 as usual
in recent days. Ten minutes before 21h, she's back as the previous
days. She feeds again her chicks.
She cleans the nest. Gets out. However, she remains near the nest box.
Then she comes back, pecks a few feathers, gets out again, remains
nerbay.
Enters a last time.
Then seems to hesitate and... leaves!
They
will spend their first night of "grown-ups".
A little one returns calmly to the nest bowl.
Everyone is settled down.
Here is a confirmation of their forthcoming departure.
Return of mom in the morning with the breakfast. Shortly after here is
dad.
I do not know how it happened, but mom, tossing his people pulled a
long strand of moss. Unfortunately it alighted just in the beak of a
chick! It clings, it is in his beak, how to get rid? It is too small to
use the claw. In its beak, his reaction told him to eat and then
gradually it will swallow the long ribbon. Hard, very hard to swallow,
he will need 8 minutes to succeed. His mother could have removed the
strand but she had leaved.
Gulp! Passed.
I'd drink a drop of water ... I
Do not worry, he's fine!
He has digested all this fibber and eat just like the others with a
healthy appetite.
Sometimes, some confusion reigns in the nest...
The nest bowl is crushed and no longer has a pretty round shape.
Meals as usual.
But
the mother sits farther from the rim of the bowl.
Training and meals.
Watch
VIDEO (1652ko, 59s)
Watch
VIDEO (892ko, 33s)
Dad
and mom (left) in the middle of a feeding.
May 17th
May 16th,
8:50 p.m. Mom watches on the top of the birch and hums a little. 8:55
p.m. a last meal before nightfall. Then she leaves, their second night
alone. In the box the 3 big ones lie on the three smaller underneath,
probably the youngest of the brood. They lag a day and a half.
They scratch and scratch again. The 3 little ones below would sleep;
they are peeked by the big ones. Finally, everyone piled up, huddled
against each other.
Clouds, light rain, 11 °C, beautiful sun spells in the afternoon, 17 °C.
Dad came to bring a morsel, then, instead of leaving, he began to peck at the feathers of one of the chicks. He pulled several times, its feathers around the beak.
(Note that these videos had been cut and edited and feedings can be less frequent than it seems.)
Scenes of life of the nestbox.
May 16th:
May 17th:
Watch
VIDEO (3702ko, 2mn 13s)
Beautiful legs.
No, I'm not embarrassed to trample friends.
Yes, it's just there, above...
6 beaks open, but often the two smaller ones are difficult to see, they
are usually trampled underneath.
Dad at left and mom a little above. Today they stay together.
May 18th
Sun, clear sky.10 °C -17 °C, very beautiful day.
The very first appearance at 9:25. Just a shy glance at the big world. We only see the tail on the inside, a chick learned to hook at the entrance. At 9:33, another test.
Dad does, as usual, the household chore under the chick's intrigued eye, who observes the operation with curiosity.
10:45 He's back. Then until
half past noon, he will put out the head from time to time.
Y-a quoi en bas?
Et à droite?
I especially like those first appearances and
first looks, surprised, worried?
Obviously, seen this way, they would seem rather scornful ... Yeah, so,
it was that?
If we called? And he chirps lustily. Always amazing how strongly they
signal their presence. I always find it rather unwise, too easy to
identify these youngsters (a magpie haunts the terrace for a week, her
nest is just down the building).
Wow! It's high up here.
It works to call! Here there are the supplies, which he will take at the door.
Unorthodox exit, we do what we can. Embarrassed by a chick,
mom makes a crash exit all twisted.