She's gone!

Well Bridget, and her last chick, have left the nest. Only one poo remains!



I also saw this TINY stick insect, very cute :)

The last of Bridget?!

I went to visit Bridget again today, and I think it could be the last time I see her and her chick on the nest.
I say chick as there is only 1 left now... I guess it hasn't been the best year for them, but 1 is better than none!



I'm expecting it to have left the nest by Saturday, but you never know - I'll let you know anyway ;)

Bridget update...

I still can't believe just how fast these things are growing!

Unfortunately there are only 2 left now though, and interestingly there is still a missive size difference between them



No sign of the missing two (dead) chicks.. I'm guessing their parents carried them away to dump them somewhere which is kind of sick! It's what they do with the chicks poo to reduce the smell of the nest for predators - you can see the dad eat a packet of poo on his second visit in that video... eww!

Growing fast!

Well Bridget's young are growing REALLY fast! I took this video a few days ago (with my new camera, w000p!) and you can see they seem to have doubled in size in only a few days!!

They've hatched!

So here they are...



I'm pretty sure they hatched yesterday morning, but they can't be more than 36 hours old anyway. All 4 are alive so far but I'm expecting they won't all make it though, it's pretty standard for at least one to not get enough food.

Another animal I saw struggling to survive yesterday was this Stick Insect that had clung to a customers car all the way to the garden centre... I have no idea how long it had been there but it must have been an interesting ride for it! Needless to say I put it into a tree

Bridget update!

So I've done a bit of research, and after 2 weeks of incubation Bridget's eggs will hatch, then they'll fledge after only 16ish days! That means this was her last week on the nest, and come next week she's going to have to spend all of her time trying to feed hungry chicks...

So here she is relaxing while she can


I don't blame her for sitting tight though, the day was pretty crappy for the most part, lots of wind and rain and it was only 7 deg C when I go there in the morning!

Bridget

This is our display of "4 for $10" grasses at work, what a bargain :P


I was helping out a customer here yesterday when I noticed something on the middle shelf...



To start with I didn't think it was real...

But it is! I've named her Bridget...

She is, of course, a female Black Bird who's decided that our stand of grasses is a great place to have hey young... I'm not sure if it was the wisest idea but at least I'll be able to watch them grow up!




I covered the front of the stand in some shade cloth, and will keep an eye on her over the next few weeks. They should have fledged the nest within about 6 weeks (so says a customer of mine who is a vet) so I'll post an update every week to show how she's going!
If you want to come and visit her yourself, this is where you'll find her!