It's the start of another day and here are all seven of Bella's chicks on display. The little one on the right is barely visible, so I suppose it won't get much food. Indeed, it's difficult to see how the runt of the litter can get any food when it depends on only one parent!
I hope it makes it at fledging time!
The other six chicks seem to sit on the tiniest one most of the time. Where on earth is it here?
How can it breathe let alone eat?
Seven gapes again this time.
How does Bella decide which mouth to feed? In fact what all parent birds appear to do is to offer the food to one chick after another until they get to one that is so hungry that it swallows the food before the parent can snatch it out again!
This isn't eight chicks is it?
The littlest one is at the bottom of the picture with its beak and eyes closed. That won't get it any food!
Only seven chicks again here.
And here.
Seven again. The eighth chick must have been a figment of my imagination!
We will only know for sure if we catch sight of them individually as they fledge!
This is the time that the chicks are most vulnerable to predation by a woodpecker. They are starting to spend more and more time out of the nest cup.
Finally, here's a good show of feathers. If you met these chicks on a dark night, it would be difficult to distinguish them from adults!