Bird Box Camera 2003 - page 2 - Eggs

  See the links page for other nest sites.
 
 

Home page


Other pages:

1- Nest building

3 - Chicks 

4 - Fledglings 

 

A pussy visits!

   
       
        Click on any image for the full-size version.  
           
 

    7 Apr

Much stretching and heaving for about 40 minutes...
 
           
 

    ...then at last the first egg!  
           
 

    8 Apr

The male pays his mate a feeding visit. This must be purely by instinct as the female has hardly spent any time in the box, it being a relatively warm day.
 
           
 

    9 Apr

After missing a day, looks as though another egg is on its way.
 
           
 

    ...and then there were two!  
           
 

    Bedded down well before dusk. However, she rarely remains still for more than 30 minutes at a time.  
           
 

    11 Apr

Four eggs now. Our occupant this year is much more careful in covering over the eggs during the day.
 
           
 

    14 Apr

Now six eggs......
 
           
 

    15 Apr

The seventh egg 'arrived' at 5.50am, here the eggs are getting a good shuffle around.
 
           
 

    18 Apr

10 eggs......

The female spends most of the time sitting on them now.
 
           
 

    19 Apr

A much colder day today (10'C), the female has deepened the nest cup and pulled in the nest material close around her.

Seen here receiving a feeding visit from her mate.
 
           
 

    21 Apr

Still sitting on 10 eggs.

The male makes feeding visits every 10 minutes or so during the early morning, but is much less frequent later on.
 
           
 

    24 Apr

The female had a rough night, not usually more than 20 minutes rest at a time.

Seen here, the first feeding visit of the day. The male called with food a further seven times before 8am, but none of the later offerings was as generous as this one!
 
           
 

    25 Apr

It's a dull, rainy day so the female is catching up on some sleep.

This contrasts vividly with the amount of activity during the night.

But through the night there are more beetles & spiders in view and it may be they who irritate her!
 
           
 

    27 Apr

There's something about the female that says that her mate hasn't paid a feeding visit for a while!

It's about 11 days since incubation of the eggs began and hatching usually takes place after 13-14 days.
 
       


 

Any comments are welcome on the feedback page.