All morning, we have been concerned about one of Claire's chicks. It seems to stay lying in the bottom of the nest cup and does not appear to move. In addition, although the other chicks are a bright pink colour, this chick has a distinctly bluish-grey hue.
This is the first shot we have of the chicks this morning. Watching them live we can see that three of them are quite active whereas we haven't seen the fourth chick move at all.
The bluish-grey body on the left looks distinctly odd. Could this chick have died overnight?
The weather last night was pretty wild. We could hear the rain pouring down and there was a brief thunderstorm at one stage. Here you can see that Claire looks quite bedraggled.
The greyish chick still hasn't moved - we fear the worst, ie that it is probably already dead.
Sam is also very wet - but both parents still seem to be able to find suitable food for the chicks.
Another feeding visit by Sam.
An odd incident occurred this morning. Claire is off the nest and looks as though she was about to go out when Sam comes to the box.
Instead of coming in, he finds Claire in the way and pauses on the entrance hole.
This is the view from the outside!
After a short while, Claire moves to one side and Sam enters the box. As usual, he passes the food to Claire for her to feed to the chicks.
Claire is still trying to find a chick to take the food 30 seconds later!