Bluetit Diary    Apr 2003 (30)

 

 

Saturday 26th April, 2003

Well, today has been a momentous day.  Fantail produced her third egg, and Fluffy produced one while Elizabeth was watching - and it was possibly her second!

Elizabeth switched on the cameras at about twenty past seven this morning.  There was no sign of Fantail but Fluffy was behaving as Fantail did yesterday.  She was moving rhythmically (enough to trigger numerous photos), her beak kept opening and closing, and she could be seen blinking quite rapidly.   After several minutes minutes panting she started moving restlessly and appeared interested in something beneath her.

Fluffy in labour!

Still at it!!

Very restless.

What's this here then?

After all this, she flew out of the nest, only to return shortly after with another feather.  Where does she find them all?  She continued her frequent visits to the nest, fiddling around with the feathers.  On one occasion Elizabeth noticed on the TV screen that Fluffy was perched quietly on the entrance hole looking out, but remaining quite still for some seconds.  I went upstairs to watch from the landing window, and saw that she had a large feather in her beak.  She then took this into the nearby oak tree, and seemed to be pecking at it (was she airing the bedding?) before taking it back into the box.  Shortly afterwards she took it out again, and went into the hornbeam a few yards away.  She then dropped it, apparently accidentally, and seemed to lose interest in it.

This looks right!

Now a big wriggle.

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