Plume de Ville
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From day to day.
20 May
It is still
cold this morning. 9 °C. She stayed until 6 am in the nest. 17
°C in the
afternoon. Wind, sun and clouds.
A little uncombed
when exiting of the nest box, especially when she has just rearranged
the
centre of the nest.
She
continues care her chicks conscientiously. Feeding, household. They are
very active
and begin to peck each other. Hierarchy begins to establish.
Instant of
calm...
rare. They move constantly. There's always one who feels the need to
arrange
its feathers.
She hunts
and brings small prey, which are difficult to identify.
They
intrigue me; there are several photos over several days, similar. Bit
of
butterfly?
And she
complements with some worms.
As to this
joyous disorder, it is the result of her passage at the bottom of the
nest,
which raises bluntly all her people.
21 May
Beautiful day. 15°-19°C.
As the
evening before and yesterday evening, she waits for a long time near
the nest
box and the door of the nest box. She enters, she exits. She waits.
The night
falls. At 21h20, she enters to feed her chicks, and then rearranges the
bed.
She stays still a little; then, at 21h34, a last glance and she exits
and... quits
to sleep elsewhere.
For the first time the chicks are alone for the night.
After a few
minutes seems calm seems to return. In fact I say seems, because the
seven chicks
move all night! Finally she will spend a night without their permanent
agitation.
Time to
leave approaches. The departure of the mother for the night occurs 4-5
days
before fledging. Teaching the youngsters to fend by themselves?
She slept in the nest box for almost 3 months, from February 27. This
must a change,
this night.
5:48
this
morning. She provides the first meal, very well received.
For the first time since a long time, she sang this morning.
The previous evening, she had hesitated, stay or leave. She waited a
day. Now, they
sleep alone until their fledging.
This
morning, almost an incitement to exit.
She passes the head in the nest box, to see and be seen. As a call.
Cool! Still
four days!
Sometimes she re-emerges
with her beakful. Not hungry anymore! She will eat it herself.
They peck,
eat, and are "tidied up" with the usual delicacy.
Watch VIDEO (1556ko 1mn16s)
Very symmetric arrangement.
22 May
Overcast 15°-18°C
Second
night alone. She leaved at 21h. This morning at 5:45 she arrives for
the first
feeding.
The
cries of chicks have changed. From small chirping, they changed to
tchititit
of the tits. This is the case of one of the chicks, surely the most
advanced
because it is often perched on the edge of the nest. His cry can almost
be confused
with that of the mother, albeit less strong. The mother calls often on
arrival
now.
This
morning, repeated cries of alarm. It is the mother who screams. A
magpie
is on the terrace, they rarely come but the chicks are increasingly
noisy and
attract them. They often steal chick from nests. They do it sometimes
in group,
making fools the poor parents. I have observed parents sparrows making
dive attacks
desperately. Well, I know that they also have a family.
Puzzling
attitude for chicks to indicate thus permanently to predators,
"we're here". The very young are not yet fearful and can be approached
very closely. The mother is beside the pie and screaming the most she
can. I
quickly chased the magpie.
Still a
touch of pink on the back and neck.
The small
beaks have slimed. The chick in front has silhouette of her mother.
They walk
outside the bowl.
The sinkholes are still
yellow, but they have already lost a lot of big hem around yellow beak,
which
will disappear completely when they become young adults in 3 weeks.
Left and center the 22 May, at right the 17 May.
And the characters are emerging.
Mealworms to
everyone that I supply since the mother is alone.
The distributor is tailored for blue tits (26 mm). Otherwise worms
disappear
too quickly thanks to greenfinches and sparrows. And there would be
conflicts.
Even
so,
the family of great tits (including two cute youngsters) becomes a
little
cumbersome when they wants pinch a worm to the blue who finds herself
cornered.
I put a few sunflower seeds and some worms in self-service for the
great tit family.
They overthrew the whole dish. There is peace now.
They leave the blue alone, which continues her service.
The morning bath.
No more
great tits today. We don't hear them. After these two days, gone to
other
places?
Yesterday a Black Redstart. The four young sparrows of
these last
days leaved also to other horizons.
The greenfinch
is also interested and allows us to admire the beauty of its wings.
They come
as a couple. Here, Monsieur.
The mother
prepares the mealworms cutting the head and tail, then it takes them as
cigars
to facilitate the taking by chicks.
13h15 new alarm
cries. The magpie is back. I tell her that this territory is
off-limits. The
mother was really nervous. She didn't stop shouting and hopping from a
branch
to another, it will ask a long time before calming down.
Nap in a pile. We can see very well the drawing done by the feathers of
the
neck.
Rain is forecast for this weekend, shame!
All day the mother, perched nearby, calls more and more often the
chicks that
answer her from the nest box.
23 May
15 °C and
bright sunshine this morning. 21 °C in the afternoon.
Departure last night shortly before 21h; return this morning at 6 am.
7h new passage of the magpie. Last year there was a nest just besides, below
us. They must be again in the same place.
The morning sun illuminates the back wall of the nest box and you can clearly
see the current position of the cup nest (which we do not see the colour camera).
Training. Flapping the wings.
Watch VIDEO (350ko 6s)
Watch VIDEO (324ko 10s)
Classical program.
It comes, it goes out.
Watch VIDEO (1608ko 37s)
Frequent flapping
throughout the day. It begins with stretching the wings then instead of closing
them, it starts flapping wings at very high speed. They do not sleep much and
become curious. They explore their tiny territory. Endless sessions of scratching
and feather combing.
The nest has bowl expanded and collapsed. They are against the wall which faces
the entrance; the edge of the nest along this wall has flattened. Under the
entry hole (right in photo), the original edge remains.
