April 12th
Sunny then overcast, rather cool, 5 - 11 °C, windy from NE.
That's
four!
A variant of this morning. The male left after his favourite songs and
then she got out at 6:40. Shortly after, they returned together, she
returned to bed again. He quits.
And at 6:51, the fourth egg laying begins.
She will leave the nest around 7:07.
Très peu de passages comme hier, deux visites entre 13h et 14h, c'est tout!
Les œufs sont laissés très découverts.
Hey, I would eat a little thing...
At once, honey!
April 13th
Well overcast and chilly, yet wind from NE, 8 -12 °C.
6.50
am, she takes the position of laying and rises shortly afterward.
Well, of course, he is there and sings.
She will leave at 7:04 alone, but at no time did I could see clearly
the five possible eggs.
Four or five? Hard to say; she kept cutting partially covered the whole
morning. Hard to know if the white circle besides the 4 most
conspicuous, is an egg!
She makes more passages than yesterday: half a dozen in the morning.
Brought new beautiful new white feathers.
With a little luck, we'll see them better tonight.
Two short passages in the afternoon.
Back at 17:00 for a little tidy up.
Watch
VIDEO (498ko, 33s)
No, not yet visible those eggs!
Brimstones
[Gonepteryx rhamni]
(citrons) are more and more willing to pose because they are busy
foraging now that the flowers are also more numerous.
Of course a long winter it wears your wings a little. This one came out
a little crumpled.
It is time to regain strength until it meets his better half. The
female will lay in April-May Young brimstones (imagos) open their wings
in mid-summer, then after a little vacation, a little summer rest (they
"aestivate", reducing their activity during the hottest period), they
look like their parents, a good shelter for the winter. Before
re-emerging the following spring and in turn spawn the next generation.
For parents, the fall will also mark the autumn of their lives. A long
life for a butterfly, more than a year.
The male has the upper wings lemon (the female, pale green). One sees
here the colour well "lemon", it uses to stay, most often, wings
closed, in this position it is difficult to find as it blends with the
grass.
It will be five!
April 14th
Overcast, much less wind, 7 - 14 °C.
All the birds sing everywhere at the moment. There is activity
in all the nests! Natural or nest boxes.
On the banks of the Loiret another small family of blue tits, is
almost synchronous with our Parisian one, she goes to bed too ...
Goodnight.
April 15th
Sun a little cloudy, 11 - 15 °C.
The guard is still there in the morning to sing, but he left early.
This morning he was gone at 6:30.
At 6:35, the seventh egg laying.
She leaves at 7am.
I told you that
the down sticks everywhere!
She
often takes it clinging to her legs.
She!
He, in the evening, when she has already gone to bed, stays often on
his favourite branch of the birch, very high, watching the sunset.
A little love? The photos are rare and difficult in the branches. Come
on, like that we remain discrete...
April 16th
Full sun, 12 - 14 °C
The eighth one this morning at 6:35. He doesn't
stays long. Just a very brief appearance and he's now very quiet.
Now she broods continuously.
She goes out from time to time but always leaves
its eggs uncovered because she returns quickly.
At noon, the sun illuminates just the bowl's nest where she lies.
It is possible that this happens to be the last egg. Then, small video:
Feel a little peckish, perhaps?
Uh! Who holds who?
This morning, the breakfast. Well, the menu is not varied.
It is not difficult to notice his arrival that he signals, calling her
by small tititi. It suffices to crack open the window to trace him.
For now, it has not yet entered in the nest to feed her. Surprising, I
thought he would be invited sooner.
It is him at top right. He has just given her his spider.
She seems to have trouble with the spider; the next moment, he takes it
back. And it seems that now he is in trouble...
Finally, he makes it trough and gives it back to her.
Poor photos, the morning light is insufficient, we'll try better the
next days. There will be time; incubation lasts 12 to 13 days. That
means the hatching at the end of the month.
Gaze at little bugs.
They parasite on solitary bees by laying at the entrance of their nests.
En flight back legs are like a pendulum and it swings from right to
left. The wings beat too fast to be distinct.
With
its long rigid proboscis, it feeds on nectar. The lesser celandine
offer him a feast.
They visited the balcony this year but impossible to make them pose
briefly for a portrait.
(060410-090410)
April 17th
Sun, cool. 8°C in the mornig. 17 °C.
For
the first time, he is not here this morning. Silence. We hear him a lot
less now anyway.
I really thought there would be no ninth-egg this morning because at
her usual time, 6:40, there was nothing.
Nevertheless, I keep the video recording and it took me some searching
because the laying was very fast. But there are well nine eggs.
She went out at 7:12.
From time to time she indulges in à longer promenade. She must go hunting. I must say he passes very irregularly.
It is not so easy to get to see the prey that it brings.
He did not stay long even if I put a well placed branch that he seems
to like.
Sometimes it does not alight; sometimes he puts just a claw and takes
off to rush directly into the nest box, without even stopping at the
entry.
I noticed spiders, of course, but also a few flying insects such as
this. A wasp? A bee? It happens that a tit hunts a bee, but more often
it is the larger great tit that does this.
Small little spring bugs again...
My knowledge is limited on this, but I think this is the Polistes dominulus (because of the top of antennae, black).
It has long been called "Polistes gallicus" but there are actually several species. Dominulus and Gallicus are two separate species.
To learn more: Articles always fascinating at Aramel.
April 18th
Full sun, very mild 10 °C this morning. 20 °C.
Springtime again...
Chez
Mr. Deer.
In early April, he gradually loses his fine velvet.
(060410)
The bare antlers appear.
(150410)
Another butterfly spring appearance,
here is the Orange Tip.
[Anthocharis cardamines
- Pieridae]. (Aurora).
The female.
The male
is more colorful, orange and white.
The male A small Speckled
Wood of spring generation anyway, they came out too. [Pararge aegeria]
(Tircis).
They overwinter as caterpillars or pupae.
April 19th
Still full sun 12 - 21 °C.
This morning's sunrise.
Just in the way of the single contrail!
A rarity. The airspace was still closed today, (because, of the now
well-known Icelandic volcano).
Hey! Again greeneries.
As for feathers, no problem!