Bluetit Diary    May 2002 (10)

It may not be clear from this image, (the larger one is about 25k bytes) but the large number of such images convinces us that there at least seven chicks hatched.  We say 'at least' because on some of them, with a bit of imagination, you can convince yourself that there are eight!  Certainly, some chicks appear much bigger and more vigorous than others.  We shall see whether they all hatched when the birds have flown.

Here you can see Beauty feeding seven gapes.  It is Beauty and not Beau, even though she is feeding from the left, because directly after she gets on top of the chicks and mothers them for a bit.

Sometimes both parents appear to stand and watch for a bit.  Whether it is in awe of what they have produced, or more likely, waiting for a faecal sac is not clear.  Only the unromantic would believe the latter!

All the eggs in Box2 were intact when we switched on the camera this morning, and the webcam was showing Box1 until 11.20am, when Elizabeth switched it to Box2. Battler was not in the box - but there was one tiny chick, with the other ten eggs still intact. I am out all weekend, managing a croquet tournament, and Elizabeth did not know if setting the video recorder going would interfere with the operation of the webcam, so she went up to the club to ask - it's only 1½ miles away. Having received the go-ahead to start recording, she then had to find an empty tape, which was not easy as our filing system is not very efficient. In desperation she was just about to start overwriting the first 6 lessons of Buongiorno Italia, when she realised that the tape already in the recorder was clear - it's the one used for recording the fox and hedgehog antics.

At about 12.30 pm, Battler's mate (Victor, maybe?) came in with a caterpillar, which Battler took, with widely outstretched wings, levered herself off the nest cup, and Elizabeth saw some broken eggshell - and a second chick. While Battler was away, Victor came in with a bit of food, and tried to persuade a chick to take it. Unfortunately their necks seem very weak, and they can only hold up their heads for a moment before they flop down, or back, again. If the adult is not ready to push the food in very quickly the opportunity is lost. Eventually he managed to push it down a throat, and you could see the gulping efforts to swallow it, before the poor creature collapsed in a little heap. Maybe Victor is a first time father, and needs to practise his feeding technique.

Elizabeth went out for a couple of hours, and when she returned Battler was firmly ensconced in the nest cup - she has managed to make it quite deep now. When Victor brought in some food, she came only partially off the nest, and it was not possible to see if another egg had hatched.  However about 10 minutes later, Battler went out for a few minutes, and 3 chicks could be seen. She did not leave them for long, and soon settled down firmly again on top of the babies. She is fairly restless, continually changing her position and delving down into the nest cup.

At 6pm we have still not been able to confirm the number of chicks. A little while ago, Battler was seen removing some eggshell, but we cannot tell if this is from a new hatching.

LATER: Now we are certain that there are 4 chicks. Battler is now not only spreading her wings as Victor comes in, but she flutters them quite strongly as he comes towards her. On one occasion when we were watching, she began to spread her wings before he came into sight - obviously she had heard him before he appeared.

The remarkable thing about this nest of chicks is that at least one of the chicks that has hatched was laid 2½ weeks before the last three eggs (see Summary page).  And yet they all hatched on the same day within a few hours of each other.  If one egg laid at this time can hatch, so can more than one.  Perhaps we will get more chicks tomorrow!