8 Mar 23 — Tom eats in the box
Recently Tom has taken to offer food to Azina in the nest box, this time he decided to eat it on the spot when she refused. I don’t think she was too impressed 😉
Something worked up the pair around 1pm today but I couldn’t see what it was… (first five shots)
And a few more shots from today.
Today was a light day for Tom incubation wise but it was not for lack of trying! This was his last try for the day, around 7pm, but Azina didn’t want to budge 😉
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:
The chicks ended spending a fair bit of time on the ledge this afternoon and had two meals back to back out of the box. Tom had fed them for about 20 minutes. Less than 10 minutes later Azina arrived with more food. At first the chicks didn’t seem interested but one by one got more food and that feed lasted 40 minutes!
If you’re on facebook that double feed was during a long Live session.
There was variety on the menu again today with pigeon, starling and blackbird. Tom fed the chicks three times and Azina three times too. Very well fed kids!
Chick #1’s back is looking even more like a pincushion and Chick #2’s back has started. It’s somehow clearer in the night mode shots.
Chick #3 is still making real efforts to stand up and Chick #2 is getting better at it.
Shots for today:
Azina laid her fourth egg this evening.
She got up at 6.47 p.m. At 6.49, you can clearly see three eggs. At 6.50 she turns round and starts pushing at 6.52, laying the egg at 6.53. At 6.55 she turns and settles, showing all four eggs in the process as she gathers them together. Easy peasy!
And here are a few shots from today.
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: