Another case of persistence paying off 🙂 Azina came back 1hr31m later having stuffed herself 😉
I know I am starting to sound like a broken record but it’s been another quiet day 😉 Tom ended up doing a total 4hr21m over three shifts (though one was only 8 minutes long) and Azina will have done 19hr37m. She came back for her night shift with a very full crop, she’d put Tom’s shift to good use.
I was starting to think that it was all about Chicks #1 and #3 the last few days but today Chick #2 stole the show by being the first one to go explore the paddling pool. On its four weeks birthday too 🙂
One of my favourite moments when the chicks discover the pool. It didn’t go as far as having a bath but it seemed to be enjoying itself. Check the clip if you haven’t already.
The rest of the day is about the same as the last few. Sleep, eat, flap, preen, sleep, flap, sleep, eat… 😉
There were four feeds, all given by Azina, all of pigeon.
There was very heavy rain around 6pm. The shot below is of the three chicks huddled close together in the corner. It must have been scary with the noise on the roof of the box…
About half an hour before that I heard Tom alarm calling. I checked at my window and saw him rushing to gain height over my street. I went out and by then he’d gone beyond the cemetery and was over Kensington dive bombing a Buzzard.
A funny clip to finish:
Shots for today:
It’s all going well. The chicks are getting plenty of food. And I know some of you are concerned about the smallest chick. Don’t worry! It’s getting plenty of food, just as much as its siblings. If you’ve watched the second Live on Facebook you’ll have seen all three of them full to bursting after what was their eighth feed of the day!
But I think this chick is going to be trouble. It wandered away during one of the feeds and Azina had to grab it to bring it back with the others.
They managed to surprise me with another first: Tom feeding the chicks while they were under Azina. Very interesting interactions this year.
As mentioned above, the chicks had eight feeds today. Again it was a mix of starling and pigeon.
Shots for today:
It has been a tough day. It all started last night after I posted the daily update and I checked the cameras. I noticed that Chick #1 had either been crying since the last feed or had trouble breathing. When I checked this morning, it wasn’t any better. We made plans to pick it up tomorrow at ringing if it wasn’t improved and have it checked up at Wildlife Aid.
Throughout the morning it seemed to perk up from time to time and ventured outside a couple of times. At one point it lost its balance and fell on the ledge floor but picked itself up again. It pancaked with Chick #3 in the box for a while. Then around 12:30 it got up, went out of the box, to the hidden corner for a while. At 12:55 it came back to the wall in front of the box, collapsed and drew its last breath.
From the start last night I suspected it may be frounce/trichomoniasis. From a clip I sent Sean confirmed that it is the most likely cause. But, obviously, without checking the bird physically, we cannot be 100% sure. It is not avian flu. It will have come from one of the pigeons they ate. With hindsight, what I called being weird a few days ago, that it pretty much stopped pancaking and was spending its time sleeping standing up, was probably due to the illness. So it’s been going on for a few days. I didn’t say anything yesterday, in part because Chick #2 had stolen the show, but I had noticed that it seemed a bit lethargic. And thinking back on it, I don’t think it had done much flapping.
Now the sad thing is that it has felt like Chick #3 has been a bit off today, and has been sleeping sitting up a bit. But at other times it seems to perk up, and to pancake. Hopefully it is me being paranoid. Chick #3 is also the one that seems to be missing Chick #1 the most. It’s sat by or pancaked on it a few times. The rest of the family have completely ignored it.
The good news is that Chick #2 on the other hand has been very perky. It’s been up and down the ledge a few times, enjoyed a few paddles and did a lot of flapping.
There were just three feeds today, two by Azina, one by Tom. Again only pigeon on the menu.
Ringing tomorrow has been postponed until Monday.
A reduced album tonight:
Very quiet days again with little to report. Tom has done average days (3h40) to long (nearly 5 hours).
The coming night is going to be long for Azina as she refused Tom’s help twice this afternoon/early evening meaning that she’s been incubating since 2.50pm
A few shots from the last three days.
With such a wet and cold day (and night) Tom and Azina have covered the eggs pretty much non stop. Tom came in at 4am for a first shift of nearly 3 1/2 hours! (I guess he wanted to shelter from the rain/snow 😉 )
Check the first two shots of Tom and Azina side by side at the entrance of the nest box. I don’t often to get to have them so close and cooperating to give such good comparative shots. Tom’s legs, cere and eye rings are orange whereas Azina’s are yellow. His chest is white and lightly speckled, hers looks darker with her big dark spots. His back is slate grey, hers is blacker.
The chicks have been in and out of the box a lot today but did all their sleeping inside. Chick #1 has slept most of the day sitting up while the others were pancaked.
There were 5 feeds and all of them were pigeon. Tom did one of them and Azina the others. He would have done an other but the chicks were still full from their previous one.
Two short clips with Chicks #1 and 2 flapping:
There was a feed Live on facebook which you can watch using this link.
Shots for today:
