Within a few seconds another chick jumps up onto the nest box hole.
Mum is still in the box all this time. You can distinguish her by the fact that she has white face feathers whereas the chicks face feathers are a definite yellowish colour.
The second chick looks as though he will go any second too.
Off he goes!
Up and away!
Two down and five to go.
Chick number three looks set to go.
He's off too. He didn't hang about did he. That's three chicks fledged in less than three minutes!
We now have a brief pause while the remaining four chicks get over the shock of the last few minutes.
Dad comes into the box with a large green caterpillar.
Eventually he decides which chick to give it to.
I often wonder how the parents decide which chick to give food to. They seem to need the chick to be very hungry and unless the chick grabs at it and gobbles it down, the parent takes the food back and gives it to another chick. The system seems to work all right!
About five minutes has passed and now another chick is looking out of the nest box.
It must be daunting to see the outside world for the first time.
The other two chicks look apprehensively at what is going on.
It looks as though he is going.
Away he goes!