Frogmouth update

Today (26 October) was rather warm (27oC by 11:20) so the chicks didn't seem to feel the need for a feather blanket.  This gave some good photo ops.

At first #2 was pretty much hidden ....
 .... but when Dad swiveled round Junior #2 tried to use the eyes in the back of its head to see what was going on.
Eventually it decided to use the conventional approach to see what I was up to.
Other than curiosity, the chicks don't seem to react to me wandering about on the lawn.  Perhaps I add to the richness of their life?

Things got very interesting around 1:00pm on 28 October when I noticed that Mum had flown from her roost and had joined the others on the nest branch.
The only time I had previously seen this was when the Pied Currawongs were swooping a chick (only one that year) on the day it first flew (ie fledged).  Today however both chicks were still in the nest.
The more adventurous chick was very active. including doing a fair bit of wing flapping, showing that it had some primaries, but not yet at full stretch.  Unless I have got things completely wrong in my calculations it should be about 8 days before the nest is empty - this is because my pair have usually taken about 34 days to get the chicks from hatched to fledged.  .However HANZAB reckons 30 days is the lower limit in the wild and 25 days in captivity.

Perhaps the two days of strong winds have disturbed the chick?  Nope, later in the day it was clearly the Currawong causing trouble.  Gee, I hate those birds: I rate them somewhere below Common Mynahs..

Comments

Jeni at Northern Rivers Dreaming said…
Lovely photos - I so wish we could see where ours nest!
31 October 2014 at 13:32:00 GMT+11
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