One of our regulars asked for some back-history of this nest, and so here it is.
| Year | Female | Male | Eggs | Hatched | Fledged Comments | ||||
| 2008 | Swift | Beau | 1 | 1 | 1 | Very late season | |||
| 2009 | Swift | Beau | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 2010 | Swift | Beau | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 2011 | Swift | Beau | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| 2012 | Swift | Beau | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 2013 | Swift | Beau | 3 | 0 | 0 | All eggs broke | |||
| 2014 | Swift | Beau | 3 | 1 | 0 | Chick fell out of box | |||
| 2015 | Diamond | Bula | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| 2016 | Diamond | Bula & Xavier | 3 | 3 | 3 | New male did not incubate | |||
| 2017 | Diamond | Xavier | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 2018 | Diamond | Xavier | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 2019 | Diamond | Xavier | 3 | 2 | |||||
the story in 2016 is very interesting as the male (Bula) disappeared (presumed dead) just as the eggs were about to hatch. Poor Diamond was frantic and went without food or water for three days. Then she hunted and fed her first check. Then a succession of suitors appeared (including a very young male and a female!, both rejected). Eventually Xavier made his appearance and, although I don’t think she was terribly impressed, she accepted him. He provided very well and all three chicks fledged, but he didn’t do any incubation, brooding or chick feeding (not his chicks, of course). Since then, he has become a model father!
And below are some details of the number of days to hatching and fledging if you are interested.
| Days of breeding event | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | average |
| Days first lay to first hatch | 38 | na | 36 | 38 | 37 | 36 | 36 | 37 | 36.9 |
| Days incubating to first hatch | 34 | na | 33 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 34 | 36 | 34.6 |
| Days from first hatch to first fledge | 42 | na | na | 40 | 43 | 42 | 41 | na | 41.6 |
I’m preparing a talk to give to Sydney City Council on Thursday, so it was useful to gather these data together and I’ll make a copy of the presentation for you if you would like.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and don’t forget to vote for names before 5 pm Tuesday!
Cilla
It’s always interesting to have history of a nest. So many are missing elsewhere.
And I would like to read copy of your next Thursday’s presentation of course.
Thanks in advance, Cilla
Cilla, was Swift’s age a factor in the fragility of her eggs? I notice my ageing chooks, when they lay at all, are laying rather thin-shelled eggs these days.
Yes, definitely interested in reading your presentation 🙂
Yes, I think Swift was already quite old when she took up residence with her lovely ‘Beau’. I found the older data, but it doesn’t affect the averages much, although the 2008 season was much later than normal (1st egg lain, 23/10, hatched 1/12, fledged 9/1/2019!), but I’ll update it for the presentation.
It will be a series of slides, rather than a written lecture, but will hopefully be of interest.
Thanks for posting all of this data, Cilla! It really helps bring things into focus.