| 15th May |
3 days on and activity is frenetic, both inside and outside the box. Our
garden is burgeoning with action on the part of plants, birds and us.
Meanwhile the number of images created by this system are too much for a
mere human to process for the purpose of this diary, but here is one
anyway. Its difficult to count the number of chicks, but I know that 6
hatched and there was still one egg around earlier today.
|
| 16th May |
The last egg remains unhatched. Maybe this is why Mrs Blue determinedly sits
on top of the increasingly active brood, pushing her underparts up and
down rhythmically, almost squashing them in the process!
Mr. Blue arrives frequently with some titbit which he gives to her and she passes
it on to the young.
Sometimes she moves aside to permit him to feed them. As well as facing the ever growing
beaks, parenting consists of removing poo from the other end. I have seen
this being swallowed by the parent. Just think about it!!!
|
|
The diary stopped suddenly, not
because we lost interest, but because we went to France for 3 weeks. The
following entries are being done retrospectively.
|
| 19th May |
Mum having a peek outside as we leave for our holiday in France.
Meanwhile, development of head and wing feathers is becoming apparent.
|
| 20th May |
For the first time the chicks are opening their eyes as well as their beaks.
|
| 22nd May |
A couple of images showing signs of a chick venturing out of the nest cup.
|
| 24th May |
The chicks are maturing fast. The one shown here has a fine pair of wings
which are being tried out.
Included here is the last picture I could find of 6 live chicks as
tomorrow there remain only 5.
|
| 25th May |
Sadly, one of the chicks has died. Its poor little corpse was pushed out of the
nest cup this evening and shortly after was removed by one of the parents.
I believe it died last night or early this morning as I could see the poor
little thing not moving in the nest cup in today's pictures.
|
| 27th May |
The chicks' markings illustrate their maturity. You can just see the funny
little feather horns that remain on 2 of them. Also this picture shows one
of the chicks grooming itself another sign of growing up.
|
| 29th May |
What do 17 day old chicks spend their time doing?
Being fed.
Early morning choir singing
Snuggling down with Mum.
Rear end being dealt with.
Having an afternoon nap.
Flying practice.
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