Fantail's nest is also the subject of attention from a woodpecker.
Interestingly, the chicks seem to be unaware of the danger they are in. They are still in begging for food like mad from this thing coming through the entrance hole. Fortunately, they are still too young to be wandering around in the nest box and are therefore still safe. However, this situation will change rapidly over the next few days.
Six enormous gapes! It's interesting to see that the chicks have bigger gapes than their mother.
Looking after the chicks is hard work. During the hour from midday, one of the parents brought food to the chicks 39 times - about once every 1½ minutes. We have done this type of count at various times of the day and the average rate of visits rarely falls below once every 2 minutes.
Fluffy's chicks are looking much older than Fantail's now. They spend much of their time preening and several time have been seen practising wing flapping. Fluffy's nest appears a bit deeper than Fantail's so the development of her chicks is often hidden. However, in the image below left one chick is standing up in the nest and looks very adult - apart from the wispy bits sticking out where its ears might be expected to be.
On the right above, Dad attends to a faecal sac and lets us have a good look at his chick's wing growth.