Friday at the Flicks -- STOP PRESS - All Fledged

I could see how restless a couple of the Great Tit babies were getting this morning so I thought today might be the day when they flew the nest. They didn't pick a great day what with the rain and thunder here but they all made it to the wide, wild world.  I didn't notice until it was too late that the second clip in the video was recorded at a fast rate. I slowed it down but it became a bit on the jerky side.



As it was raining I only managed to get a few shots of number three at the entrance hole. I did see number two fly but it was too fast for me.

  

I hope to see them around the garden in the near future.

Friday at the Flicks - Great Tit Babies, Young Hedgehog, Baby Blue Tit

The baby Great Tits have continued to grow rapidly and it gets very crowded in the nest box, especially when both parents arrive at the same time.The youngsters keep preening and exercising their wings and every now and then one will have a look out of the entrance hole. You can just see a head appear at the entrance after a bit of wing flapping. They should start to fledge in the near future.



An early visitor each night is a young Hedgehog. Too big to be from this year's brood so I would imaging it was born last year. It doesn't matter how well I mix up the dried mealworms, crushed unsalted peanuts and peanut nibbles, the mealworms always disappear first.



I don't know whether a local pair of Blue Tits only raised one baby or only one survived but this one was being fed by both parents. I watched for a while and didn't spot any other babies at the time. It may look as though I speeded up the film but the parent really was that fast when trying to break up a sunflower heart so it would be small enough for a young beak to manage.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife wherever you are.

While I am in a video mood - today's Giveaway Of The Day is what looks like a great program for adding watermarks to video clips. It is only available, fully working and free of charge, today from the GOTD site. If you see Video Watermark Pro shown at the bottom right of this page just click on it to go to the GOTD site.

Daytime Meteor Shower.

Today and tomorrow is the peak activity from the Arietid meteor shower. Most of them arrive during daylight hours but if you are an early bird some can be seen about 45 minutes before sunrise. This shower can be seen in both hemispheres and details can be found on the spaceweather site HERE.

During the day you can listen to them on the spaceweather radio site HERE. There is an audio feed from  the USAF radar in Texas. You will hear a lot of white noise with the occasional ping as the radar signal is reflected back from a meteor entering the atmosphere.


Great Tit Babies.

Recently Ma GT has had difficulties sleeping in the nest with four fidgety babies and usually ended up balanced on the rim of the nest. Last night she must have slept elsewhere as the babies were left alone. I was slightly worried in case Ma had had an accident and was relieved to see her return this morning to tidy up the nest and feed the youngsters.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Last week's puzzle picture appears to have been more difficult than I anticipated. There were a couple of winners of the virtual gold stars. Well done Wilma. Yes it was a zip fastener. A good job you didn't change your mind completely Jan as your first thought was correct. The bit in the corner was part of the bit you pull to zip / unzip. The actual item was a case which held an LED torch.

   

Hopefully this weeks macro will be easier:
Guess What:


Clue: No ice cream in this one.

No Prizes. Just for fun.

Great Tit Nest Update.
It cannot be long now before the babies leave the nest. It is certainly getting crowded in there and it is probably a good job the other two eggs didn't hatch.

Still from the video camera:

Wing Exercises, Stock Dove, Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Now the Great Tit chicks are fifteen days old they are often seen preening their wing feathers and having a good flap in the nest as they prepare for the day when they leave the security of the nest box.



Regular visitors to the garden are several Stock Doves, easily recognised by the iridescent neck feathers which glint in the sunlight as though they were made of coloured foil.







During our afternoon stroll round the village I noticed that one field had been harvested and the remaining cut stalks were being made into those enormous round bales which can be seen stored in many fields in the county. This was the first time I had watched the machinery used to make the bales. The video is a bit noisy with the breezy conditions and a bit wobbly as the TZ7 was hand held on full zoom with the action taking place on the far side of the field.

Friday at the Flicks - Feeding Time for Starlings and Great Tits

I thought that the brat pack (Adult and Juvenile Starlings) had largely moved on but they were back again yesterday. The two inch mesh round the bird table is just large enough for Starlings to get inside. Even though some of the youngsters can pick up their own food they still expect to be fed by the parent.



I have tried a few times to film the parent Great Tits arriving at the nest box. The female usually flies straight to the entrance but the male normally stops a couple of times which gave me a chance to capture a bit of video. The outside sections of the video are at half speed as things happen so fast.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you. Writing about observing wildlife reminds me that for UK residents there is an RSPB "Make Your Nature Count" week starting tomorrow.

As with the Big Garden Birdwatch the RSPB is requesting that we spend one hour any time in the next week counting the birds which land in our gardens. They also want to know about other wild creatures which visit our gardens, not the numbers of them, just the fact that they visit. Full details can be found HERE on the RSPB site.

Baby Great Tits now 12 Days Old

Just a quick snapshot of the nest. The chicks now have their eyes open and are getting quite plump.



They flex their wings from time to time and use them to lift themselves higher when food arrives. All four chicks seem to be progressing well.