April 3 2014
I found Flower’s new nest about 25 ft away from her old one in the neighbour’s yard. http://youtu.be/XK2JBg0QI8A http://youtu.be/OZWm7tbtCSM Luckily they let me set up the webcam there so we can all watch the cycle again. It’s very well hidden and is hardtop get a good view at. She keeps her other chicks away from her nest by aggressive charges and calls, kind of like she does with this crow who got too close. http://youtu.be/cOYbeHNzveg The chicks tend to stay on my side of the fence in what I call the nursery, an area with lots of twigs and brambles where they are fairly protected. Wind and Rain are both flying around the back yard now, Wind a bit more able than Rain. Rain seems to have been injured by the cold when she was an egg, the feathers on her chest have yet to come in. http://youtu.be/P0WzxOdnp3Y I wonder if they ever will, Perhaps Wind was in the favoured egg that got more warmth from Flower during incubation. We had some really cold snaps during their egg phase and I am surprised they made it at all. I have seen Wind eating at the plum blossoms and other flowers in the yard as well as chasing flies, so I know Wind is going to be OK. http://youtu.be/GzG3zwywrag http://youtu.be/mM8TL4AzkC8 http://youtu.be/Kn998F1vPIY Flower was showing Wind how to catch little fruit flies above the compost pile the other day and soon Wind was hard at it. Rain, on the other hand doesn’t have the feathers needed for the manoeuvrability yet so she sticks to calling for food from Flower, although she has been experimenting with eating pollen from the plum blossoms too. Flower still feeds Rain every half hour. I haven’t seen Flower feed Winds for a couple of days so I suspect Wind is weaned. Here are some videos of them in the back yard. http://youtu.be/z2v24kjrI1U http://youtu.be/jLsynOvt8G8 http://youtu.be/g_zBrdSFZGU http://youtu.be/PKRX0f_bq3Y