Bluetit Diary    May 2005 (3)

 

 

Wednesday 4th May, 2005

Kelly's eggs are hatching!!  And today of all days, 1&1 who host our web site, say they have problems!!

This was the sight that greeted us first thing this morning.                  

Boris was looking rather keen - and Kelly rather protective!

Is that something pink you've got hidden down there, Kelly?

Well, that's certainly a little green caterpillar!

And that's definitely a piece of egg shell!!

This is the first time we have seen this behaviour.  Kelly is giving the shell to Boris.  Normally she either flies out of the nest with it or else she eats it!

Boris goes off with it to drop well away from the nest box.

This is the reason you see lots of half shells on the lawn at this time of year - many birds remove the shells from their nesting area by flying off with them and dropping them well away from it.

Is this a new eggshell or the other half of the first one?

Well, this must be a second eggshell (at least!)  It's 3½ minutes later than the picture above.

This time, in the absence of Boris, Kelly flies out with the shell to dispose of it.

You can see what looks like a half shell with a chick still inside in the middle of the nest and four other unhatched eggs.

The pink blobs are the hatched chicks!  At this stage they are blind and quite naked (bluetit chicks are altricial) and hardly have the strength to hold their heads up to be fed.

This is probably the other half of the eggshell that was in the middle of the picture above.

How do eggs that were laid one each day over 8 days all hatch out together?  This picture was taken less than twenty minutes after the first one on this page!