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Hi all,
Update
on my posting on 13/11/00. We were left with one Eastern/Crimson in the
northern box plus 3 Easterns hatched with 3 eggs remaining in the southern
box.
The northern chick fledged within 2 days which
meant 100% success rate with the 8 eggs.
Another 2 eggs hatched in the southern box and
all 5 chicks fledged. 1 egg failed.
On
22/11/00 another 2 eggs had been laid by the Eastern/Crimson pair and 7 were in
the northern box when we checked it on the 2/12/00. I thought the adults
would be off looking after the first clutch!!
16/12/00 3 white downy chicks in the nest. As we only check the box periodically, this appeared to
be too early. Unfortunately the following day 2 chicks were dead and the
third was on it's back. This clutch was in trouble.
End result was all
3 chicks died with 4 eggs infertile! From 100% success to 100%
failure. What went wrong?
Did she lay too
soon after the first clutch?
The male Crimson
didn't appear to be around as much as usual. Was he off tending the first
clutch and neglected the sitting female Eastern?
I'll never
know the answers.
The southern
box remained "open for inspection" with Crimsons coming in daily to inspect, but
no takers..
Both boxes
have now been cleaned out, then filled with new shavings to about a depth of
4inches (or 100mm for the younger generation).
Story to be
continued in the spring of '01.
Happy
birding to all
Marlene
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