Bluetit Diary    May 2006 (14)

 

 

Sunday 21st May (part2)

Now for some pictures of Kate's chicks.

Here you can see 7 gapes.  They are being fed from the left hand side (viewed from the entrance hole).  This seems to be Ben's side whereas Kate feeds from the right.

You can tell this is Ben from the feathers of the top of his head.  They tend to be rougher and streaky.  also the white head band is wider than Kate's.

Here is Ben again.

One more feed by Ben - from the left (or top as Elizabeth would say) of course.

Now this is Kate feeding the chicks from the right hand side.  Her head feathers are not particularly clear here, but you can see that the white head band is less noticeable than Ben's.

This probably shows Kate's head feathers better - they are smoother and more uniformly coloured than Ben's

A final shot of Kate feeding the chicks.  You can see her white head band is quite insubstantial when compared to Ben's.

An unusual picture of both parents in the nest at the same time.  There isn't much space there so it makes good sense for them to stick to their own sides of the nest.

Here Kate is just shoving a great big green caterpillar down one of the throats presented to her

She waits for a short whil to see if that chick produces any poo for her to remove.

This is a good view of Ben's head feathers showing their streaky nature.  Over the next few weeks they will become more and more tousled.  Some male bluetits lose their head feathers entirely and end up looking very weird!