We had hoped we had seen the last of the woodpecker. No such luck. This is the first of two visits today. We have the VCR recording continuously in parallel just in case we need a continuous record.
Fantail is in the nest. The two birds on the side are chicks! Three minutes later the woodpecker arrives. Immediately Fantail covers the chicks, flaps her wings furiously and utters warning cries. The next image is a bit clearer!
When the woodpecker finally moves off, Fantail thinks long and hard before leaving the nest. After the image on the right, she went back to the nest for another minute before finally leaving.
You can just see the end of a mealworm in Scrap's beak. That's not good enough for Fantail who grabs it and flies out with it.
You may remember that there were originally 8 eggs laid.
Occasionally an egg floats briefly into view and one was visible today. We have never seen two eggs though so perhaps 7 chicks hatched but one died straight away.
Or perhaps one egg is hidden permanently under the nesting material.