I have a pair of Crimson Rosellas occupying the nesting box that Kate
Grarock’s team put up in a tree in my front yard in September ‘09.
In ‘09 Common Mynas used the box, laying eggs within 2 weeks of
installation. As soon as the Mynas were removed, bees moved in. I
had an apiarist remove the nesting box, so that was the end of Spring ‘09.
In October 2010 another box was installed. This time we bypassed Common
Mynas and went straight to bees, within a couple of weeks. Time went
by and I couldn’t get an apiarist who was interested to take them away.
Bee activity continued but seemed to dwindle, until July of this year when no
more bees were observed. In late August I cleaned out the old honeycomb
with a kitchen knife, et voila, within days a pair of Crimson Rosellas was
checking it out! By 17 September it was evident that the female was
spending some time in the box each day. Now she is clearly sitting on
eggs, as only occasionally is her head seen at the entrance hole.
I expected that the male would feed her during this time, but they go off
together to feed, at least twice a day. Yesterday and the day before he
came to a nearby tree at 5:55 pm, called her and within a minute they flew off
together. The same thing happened this morning at 07:25. I don’t
know how long they go for, as I haven’t managed to catch them coming back.
Presumably they do so quietly.
Can anybody tell me how long it is likely that they are away from the nest,
so that I can see if I can’t pick up on their
pattern?
