The chicks start to
resemble titmice, their color changes, the parents continue
their coming and going.
20 May:
They begin to chirp!
21 May: the feathers are quite open. Their breast and cheeks are pale yellow, their cap is not yet defined. They are more and more heard and their call is more serious. The parents, who stopped singing since the arrival of chicks, start again to sing when they approach the nest. We hear the chirps from inside our home! Cloudy, windy, 16°.
Fine 19° and more and more blue tit.
25-26
May:
Little true gangsters titmice with their black mask
well visible now.
The chicks remain more and more time around the nest, they leave the nest's bowl.
They jump towards the entry and we see a claw in
the entry.
Both parents sing in the nest neighbourhood. Invitation to leave?
27 May: This morning we rose early (6h 30). The weather is not nice this morning, overcast and rainy. The 4 chicks are already awake. They are agitated and sit often on the edge of the nest and no more in the bowl of the nest, crowded against the others (and sometimes above the others!).
The parents ensure the supply. Today they share the tasks.
From time to
time a little meat, one deals with pear, the other shell
sunflower seeds. Now they are not quiet any more and hum around the
nest. The small ones also, they chirp and start to have a true titmouse
voice. Fledging rhythm is such that sometimes
the two parents enter the nest. It rains and they are soaked.
The weather is really dark; it does not seem that it will
improve
today. Chicks are beautiful and well feed.
The small ones flap the wings and spend only little time in
the nest bowl. At least two chicks. Difficult, as usual, to see all
four of them simultaneously. Already yesterday, we saw
fugitively a small yellow
bill out of the door, then a small black claw. At about 8h 30 this
morning, again a small head appears, returns, arises,
hesitates… and re-returns.
We see more and more small bills at the door. Towards 8h45 she
comes with a billful, she is nose to nose with a chick and hangs
at the entry to fledge it. It put out its bill through the hole,
then remains a little in the open air.
The
parents continue their shuttle," chickadeeing",
and chicks
answer. They are not quiet any more. Once a wood pigeon alighted on
the balustrade. Oh yes, they like the terrace, perhaps a
little
too much…. She shout out in alarm, the same cry that he
utters when
he think that I remain too long on
“his” terrace. At
once the 4 chicks, which frolicked on
the edge, out of the bowl
of the nest, went back in the bowl and keep
silent.
It is 9h16,
it seems that the weather is going to lighten.
A small chick look by the door...