
You can still see in this picture which was taken at 5 past 9, that there is at least one more egg to hatch ...
You can still see in this picture which was taken at 5 past 9, that there is at least one more egg to hatch ...
... and six minutes later it has hatched. Is that the last one?
Max seems to be doing his stuff as expected.
Males are often strangely reluctant to pass their food offering to their partners, and here Max is showing this.
A few seconds later he comes to his senses and passes the food to Meg.
He stays for a short while - to check that she gives it to a chick I suppose ...
... but when she bends to give it to a chick, he turns to leave.
He doesn't hang around.
Only 4 minutes have passed and Max is back with more food.
This time there is no hesitation.
Off he goes - before Meg has started to feed it to one of the chicks.
A couple of hours, and no doubt many feeds later, Max is back again.
Max has passed the food to Meg
She in turn turns to pass it to a chick while Max watches.
The process of selecting which chick to give food to appears quite complicated. Meg (like all female bluetits that I have watched) offers the food to one chick after another until she finds one that appears to be really eager for it. If that chick doesn't swallow the grub quickly, she will take is away again, even if it appears to be partially swallowed!
Sometimes Meg leaves the nest box, presumably in order to find food for herself. Here she is off. However, the chicks all appear well and can cope with her leaving them for short periods from time to time.