Wagtails: empty nest syndrome
We arrived home from our three-day break, all tanned (OK, not really) and relaxed (OK, not really) and with piles of washing (really!)…
.
And I thought, while I was unpacking the small mountain of dirty clothes and wet towels and gritty swimmers:
1. I wonder how the surviving wagtail chick is going?
2. I wonder if he is fully feathered up yet?
3. Or maybe even flying?
.
So I looked up at the sticky-taped nest…
And saw…
An empty nest!!
I am sooooo hoping that it was YES to my third question.
So I hereby sack myself as the Aussie bush version of David Attenborough…
He would NEVER have left his post to swan off to the beach, mid-story.
.
Jeez Louise…
I’m gonna miss that little ugly bird, peering groggily over the edge of that raggedy cobwebby sticky-taped nest.
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So Leslie’s students: would it be possible that the chick learned to fly in just a couple of days?
Otherwise I am looking very closely at Middy’s middle.
Hmmmmm..
6 Comments
rhubarbwhine
Blogger just ate my huge reply – twice. But I am here and I see this post and I refuse to retype it!
Bush Babe
Darn, Shirley!!! I so love your comments. Is that Blogger 1 – Shirley 0???
NB I had no idea that other people outside the Blogger world couldn’t subscribe to comments. THat’s silly. And I am very limited in my knowledge of blogging. So sorry!!
If I ever get time I will explore the options… Jeanie, can you help??
🙂
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Kate
I really hope it learned to fly!!! Can the big black snakes get in there? I hope not. Maybe while they are gone you can fix the next up with duct tape and then they will come back!! Blogger has eating my replies before as well. It stinks. It seems so much harder to type it again 🙂 Sorry Rhubarbwhine.
Bush Babe
Right. I’m off to sort our Blogger. Eating my visitors comments.. Bugger!!
Kate – I don;t think our venomous snakes can climb into that position (although pythons may be able to). Think its more likely to have either flown or fallen… and Middy doesn’t mind a few feathers in her dinner every so often…
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Leslie
OK, look, when we did our class research, we read that it is 2 weeks from woe to go, when they leave the nest.
Has it been two weeks? If so, all three of them, parents and baby are in a newar by tree, happily living ever after.
So, from egg hatch to fly the coop, has it been 14 days?
Bush Babe
Leslie – I just looked back in the files and yes, it would have been close to two weeks. There is hope then.
One thing I did wonder: are there ever more than one chick that make it to this point? Have had lots of people round here say they have never seen more than one mature chick in the nest…
Hmmmm
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