Mr Xavier has been getting quite busy over the last week or two, bringing prey to the box. Up until recently, he has either teased Diamond with it and then flown off (still with the prey), or had a short tug of war with her over it (which she wins, being Mama Muscle). But this week, he is beginning to remember that he actually has to hand over the prey to Diamond before he gets his reward…
Here he is performing very well. You see Diamond first, leaving and returning, then Xavier (male) arriving with the prey. I can’t quite see what the prey is (I need to clean the lenses, but I’ll do that on Monday as rain expected over the weekend). About the size of a starling, and dark, but with some white feathers too, I think. I’ve attached the video in two formats, MP4 and avi.
Thanks to Sue Hines, whose eagle eyes and fidelity led me to be able to record this. The recording software is still not operational, so I’m using Movavi Screen Recorder.
20180727 Tidy handover of prey
It’s all happening this morning, Cilla (Saturday 28) First, the lunar eclipse…. and then… 6.40 this morning I heard strange falcon calls just outside the box. Tower roof? After googling “falcons mating” I found a compilation with audio that sounded just like those mysterious rooftop calls. My ears are still blushing! Xavier followed up that little performance with another gift of prey, handed over without a fight, at 7.21am.
Madam Diamond has been turning up her nose at Xavier’s breakfast offerings. Today (Tuesday 31st) was interesting.At about 3pm, Xavier brought in a black and white bird (at first I thought Peewee, especially because of the white underwing colouring, but there seemed too much black on the head and I wondered about a Willie Wagtail?) and stood around with it for about 10 minutes. When Diamond didn’t show up he took it away again. I’m fairly sure he brought the same black and white bird back a couple of hours later, minus the wing. Once again, Diamond turned up her nose and Xavier took it away again. Poor Xavier – Diamond doesn’t want his starlings and now she doesn’t want his Peewees/Willie wagtails either… I got a reasonable screenshot that I’ll send you, Cilla. I’m hopeless at IDing prey.
Yesterday and today (1 & 2 August), Xavier, bless him, brought in THREE prey items. Diamond has made it quite clear that she’s not a fan of starling unless she’s really hungry. Today, as soon as Xavier and his starling appeared, Diamond took one look at it and fled. Xavier sat on the ledge, prey in hand, looking rather nonplussed before taking it away again.
Whenever Madam decides she will accept his offering, he hands it over without a fuss.
I think she prefers larger, plumper prey such as parrots and pigeons. And it was a pee-wee, thanks (otherwise known as magpie-lark). I’ve not seen them bring in this species before.