At 7.30 when we first switched on, Fantail was still in her nest box. She was hardly moving but she was panting. Her beak was open and you could see her breathing. Her whole body was moving, but not enough to cause i-Catcher to take any pictures. We think she must have been laying or had just finished laying her second egg, although we have not seen it yet.
Fantail panting. She finally leaves the nest just before eight o'clock. There is no sign of any eggs.
During the next couple of hours she kept returning, usually with a feather or some other soft and fluffy material. She normally appeared to try to work this into the nest, leaving her eggs covered.
Here she brings a some white downy material, and here a black feather.
Sometimes she seemed to get confused and remove some bedding. On one occasion, she brought in the biggest white feather yet!
Fantail took this one out.
Some time later she brought in this monster!
A couple of days ago, there was a sudden kerfuffle in garden which appeared to be the result of a magpie raiding a blackbird's nest in the hedge alongside our house. Could the black feathers have come from this encounter?
Where did this come from?
Are these two eggs?
Fantail went to bed early again today. It was just after 7 o'clock when she entered the box for the last time. She took ages to settle down and was still wriggling and fidgeting when we turned off her light at 7.20pm. At that time Fluffy was nowhere to be seen, but soon after she came to her box and looked as though she was preparing to settle. We turned off her light at about 7.40pm, leaving our two birds in peace.
Will Fluffy have an egg too tomorrow?