The minute you turn your back, the two chicks seem to have grown, such that both Diamond and Xavier, and especially the latter, have trouble tucking the youngsters under them on a chilly night.
Prey has been plentiful. Xavier tends to focus on starlings. Diamond has made it clear that these are NOT her preference, but will use them if there’s nothing better. However, she’s been hunting too now the chicks are a bit bigger, leaving Xavier in charge, and has been bringing in pigeons and rosellas (as in videos above) and below).
VIDEO 20181006 1733 h cr tea di caught
Here Diamond is trying to feed the chicks with rosella after they are already full of starling (they are less fussy). You can almost here her saying, ‘Please, just one beakful more…’.
I was at a nearby reservoir (about 10 km away) today doing a bird survey and saw a peregrine looking for water fowl. Not sure whether it was one of ours, but it’s always possible. They don’t get waterbirds very often.
Remember, voting for names finishes Monday. Names are two threads back. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Cilla
I have hard time watching your videos, because of their format, I think. It’s buffering while loading.
Yes, I’m also always surprised each time how fast they grow.
I feel so sorry for that chick, looks like its crop wil burst, but mum wants to put even more food in. 😀
I vote for Brenda Zepeda : Gaama & Budhin
Cilla MY VOTE .
This comment is to vote for names of the 2 young ones.
Dust and Cloud are my votes. Thank you to all for hard work.
I will vote to name them Storm and Sunbeam
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING THIS CAMERA LIVE
Thank you for all your efforts. Watching (and hearing) these amazing birds brings us a lot of joy.
My votes are: #1 Rainbow, #2 Budhin
Thank you Cilla for you updates and the amazing work you do
I would like to vote for Cloud and Rainbow for the chicks’ names.
They are such beautiful, well fed and well cared for chicks.
thanks for all these votes. We have 106 votes now. I’ll check tomorrow (Tuesday in Australia) for any late votes, but there are two front-runners that are going to be hard to beat!
I’ve assumed storm and sunbeam are actually Gaama and Budhin.
It is so great to have sound this year. Although it is very sad to see the unhatched egg still hanging around, having only two little piggies to feed might be one of the reasons they are growing so fast. Thanks Cilla and your colleagues.
They certainly are growing quickly. Such a pleasure to watch them. Can’t wait until the names are announced. Thank you Cilla
I’ll close this thread now and start a new one with a name count!