Empty Nest

This morning the blackbird's nest is empty.

The remaining nestling wasn't big enough to have flown off yet, so I can only assume that it has met an untimely end. It is not pleasant to think that the most likely animal to have been able to reach this nest and remove the babies one by one is a rat. I know which European invader I would rather have around the house!

Blackbirds

The second clutch of blackbirds has not been as successful as the first. Last time, three young ones left the nest, although a week later only maybe one of them was still alive.

There were four eggs in the second clutch, but I think only three hatched. Here's how the nest looked a week ago:

And here's the view today:

Definitely only one left.

The adults have behaved differently this time. One or the other of them has been sitting on the nest for a lot of the time since the eggs hatched. We never saw Mr Blackbird on the nest the first time, but he has been lately. Both parents spent all their time feeding the first batch, but the second batch seem to have been fed much less frequently. Is that why fewer have survived? Or are the parents feeding less because there are less mouths to feed? Are they sitting on the remaining nestling to keep it warm, because it doesn't have siblings providing warmth? Or are they protecting it from whatever happened to its siblings?

Many questions, but no answers, I'm afraid!

Nesting

A few days ago, I found this wire rack on the side of the road while out walking. I carried it home as I thought I could find a use for it.

Today I re-organised some storage space. The rack fitted inside this cupboard, so it is now where my shoes live. Thanks, whoever threw it out!

Look what happened elsewhere around the house:

Two of Mr and Mrs Blackbird's second clutch of eggs have hatched.

She's Back...

Mr Blackbird is still feeding at least one of the fledglings in the vegie garden. From what I've read, the parents keep feeding them for up to two weeks. But Mrs Blackbird is busy elsewhere:

Starting on a second batch!

Where the Fledglings Went

All three of the babies were in the vegie garden early this morning, although the one which found its way inside the bird-netting around the berries might be encouraged to move along:

Launch Day

Twenty-six years ago today my offspring was launched on the world. Happy birthday!

And today it was time for some other young things to face the big wide world:

The young blackbirds were very restless this morning. There was lots of flapping of wings, and walking around the edges of the nest.

Suddenly at about 9:00am there were only two. Where was the third?

I don't know how it got there, but it was on a different part of the verandah. It stayed there all day, with regular visits from its parents bringing it food. Then at about 5:30 this afternoon, it left this perch.

Only a couple of minutes after the first, a second baby jumped. It landed somewhere in the shrubbery. Then there was only one, which seemed reluctant to take the leap. The parent birds seemed to be calling encouragement to it, but it wasn't in a hurry.

It sat alone checking out the view of the backyard for over half an hour:

Eventually, it took the plunge, and nestcam became obsolete.

Thanks for the entertainment, blackbird family!

Blackbird Update

For anyone who is wondering how the blackbird babies are going:

They are getting larger! This morning I thought another one had disappeared, but it was hidden behind its siblings and came into view when Mr Blackbird arrived with a worm for them.

Feathers

The three largest baby blackbirds are well-covered with feathers now:

The one at the back is their mother, doing a bit of nest maintenance.  Between eating and sleeping, the babies spend a lot of time preening their new feathers.

I'm amazed by how fast they are growing.

Wet Saturday

The rain fell steadily.

The garden didn't mind the rain.

It was a good day to stay inside quilting.

But what about those with hungry mouths to feed? Mr and Mrs Blackbird had to keep flying in the rain.

Here Mrs Blackbird takes a bit of a break under cover. There's no room for her to sit in the nest, the babies have grown so much. Can you see their feathers? There's even been some wing-flapping action today.

Whose Mouth Is Big Enough?

Mr Blackbird showed up with a berry of some sort. (Just where did he get that from? I think all the berries here are safely bird-netted.) Which of the baby birds has a mouth big enough to hold a large berry?

He tried to put it in each of the baby beaks, but it was just too big. What a shame! He had to eat it himself.

Looking, Looking

We look at the birds:

That's the webcam and the nest viewed from below. Note the grapevine branch which has been across all the previous pictures has now been pruned.

The birds look back:

It might be a bit hard to see unless you click to enlarge the picture, but there's a baby on the left with its eyes open, looking as if it is looking at the camera. Three of them seem to have their eyes open now.

Four!

Mr Blackbird checks on his four offspring.

Blackbird Babies

There are definitely three hatchlings, although I haven't been able to get all of them in one photo yet.

It will be interesting to see how they grow. Their mother has no tail, and therefore cannot fly. She has been hopping around the backyard for about a year, and obviously found a male blackbird who was happy to mate with her. But there are probably not a lot of backyards where a hopping bird can live safely, so if the babies don't grow tails I don't expect them to live very long.

Multiple Birds!

This morning when I checked out the bird-nest camera I was amazed to see Mr Blackbird for the first time. And look what he is doing:

It may not be easy to see in the low-resolution picture, but he is feeding a baby bird! I mentioned that on Tuesday Mrs Blackbird seemed to be listening to her eggs. Some time since then at least two have hatched. There does seem to be still one egg in the nest, but we probably won't be able to get an accurate head count until the babies grow a little.

Bird Watching

I've been spending a bit of time lately watching this blackbird.

She built her nest under the back verandah, and now a little camera is mounted beside it so we can keep an eye on her. She's been there a couple of weeks, and today she seemed to be listening to her eggs at times. Is something about to happen?