Diamond and Xavier’s offspring are now seven and eight days old and doing very well. Prey is coming in five to six times a day: eastern rosellas are top of the menu this week with a good dose of red wattlebirds and the usual starlings.
Here Xavier is feeding his nestlings:
Xavier with his five and six day old nestlings.
Diamond ‘straddling’ her seven and eight day old nestlings….getting too big to brood properly.
As the chicks get their new down coats that will help them thermoregulate, they will need to be brooded less. Here they are on their own for a while after Diamond leaves them while the parents have break. Xavier comes and tries to brood the squirming chicks, but it’s not easy!