Post by Beechnut on Jun 18, 2020 7:39:06 GMT
What a time for weather forecasters to get it right! It's bucketing it down here and will be for only the next 3 hours - hope they are right about that! - then it will be light rain and a gentle breeze for several (?) hours.
My 5 GTs are keen to get out there, but mum and dad have other ideas. Both were feeding inside the box for quite some time just after 6am and Meg has kept up a steady supply since then, despite looking washed out. This is not the behaviour usually seen on Fledging Day - they usually curtail feeding inside the box, offering morsels from the entrance hole, or offering food, but not letting go. We've had none of that!
Sammi, if you see your chicks in the box during their last few days before fledging when they get out of the cup and move around the nest area, they are often preening as well as exercising their wings. Well part of the preening exercise will be to waterproof their feathers, there is a gland on their back near the tail which secretes an oily compound which they get on their beaks and spread it over all the areas that matter - so yes they will be pretty well defended against the weather (to a degree).
My 5 GTs are keen to get out there, but mum and dad have other ideas. Both were feeding inside the box for quite some time just after 6am and Meg has kept up a steady supply since then, despite looking washed out. This is not the behaviour usually seen on Fledging Day - they usually curtail feeding inside the box, offering morsels from the entrance hole, or offering food, but not letting go. We've had none of that!
Sammi, if you see your chicks in the box during their last few days before fledging when they get out of the cup and move around the nest area, they are often preening as well as exercising their wings. Well part of the preening exercise will be to waterproof their feathers, there is a gland on their back near the tail which secretes an oily compound which they get on their beaks and spread it over all the areas that matter - so yes they will be pretty well defended against the weather (to a degree).