It seems possible that one of the juveniles has left (perhaps Budhin) and one is still around. They are very hard to tell apart in the field, especially when by themselves, but for the last few days I have only been able to find one juvenile. I thought this might have been Budhin (the smaller male), but we had a visit to the box yesterday by Gaama (the larger male, or posssibly small female), so I now think Budhin has left. Happy to be proven wrong!
Diamond has been occasionally absent from the box at night, possibly staying with one of the youngsters that is now off-campus, but when she does visit, she often has huge crop and lugged in a huge pigeon the other day. Xavier was in the box and was suitably impressed!
And here is a video of this: https://youtu.be/_CZYAOA9Wqc
Courtship rituals have been becoming more common, now the birds have a bit more time to themselves. Here is one that took place one very hot afternoon (Orange is having a heatwave, up to 34 degrees….)
And finally, one of a juvenile (probably Gaama) chasing both her parents yesterday. I didn’t find them today; probably resting in the shade as it was still hot when I was at the uni (which is closed all week).
I’m away playing with our little trio this weekend at the Gulgong Folk Festival (which is forecast to be a melting 38 degrees) this weekend, so probably won’t have time to do much webwatching (and definitely no photography in the field)
Enjoy your New Year and see you in January.
Thanks for the update, pics and vids, Cilla! So it’s going to be a hot folk festival. Hope you enjoy it anyway, and I wish you a cheerful New Year’s eve and a very happy year 2019!