Baby Handling

We are handling the baby daily. Hopefully, s/he will become tame, but currently, not so much. The baby appears a bit more pale yellow than Boo. S/he is healthy in appearance. Mary ann is spending more and more time outside the nest box. She no longer takes giant "mother poos" as she did when the baby and eggs were being incubated and prior to her fledging. fThe baby pokes her head out quite a bit but has not yet emerged. S/he cannot yet stand on a finger perch; perch standing will be key to emerging from the nest box and subsequently, feeding.

Ten Days to Two Weeks

Based on internet sources and experience last winter with Boo, it seems that the incubation period for eggs is about a month or so. Since we know that the eggs were laid in the second week of November (around the 12-15th), we should be able to egg-spect (hahahaha) hatching in the next couple of weeks. Whether or not we will see this and document it, remains to be seen however. I wish we could get the video posting to work, and even more, I wish we could get live feed! Alas, we are stuck with still pictures for now. I suppose that I should not complain, since "Blogger" is free.

When You're an Egg, The View is Always the Same

Yesterday, Mary Ann looked a bit "peak-ed" to me. Sutcliffe stood next to the entrance hole of the nest box most of the day, and she was quite near the front. Notably, it was a bit colder. Today, however, the furnace has really kicked up, and when I put greens out (watercress and dill weed) both parents were very pleased! Mary ann otherwise has been sitting on the eggs constantly. The world, if you are one of her eggs, is largely yellow, warm, and soft. Doesn't sound too bad!

Three Eggs!

Very exciting! We can count three eggs as of yesterday. The parents are very much covering the view most of the time, with Mary Ann into close to full time brooding behavior, so we can't tell if another one has been laid or not today: so three for sure, so far. Sutcliffe continues to scuttle about, but today, for the first time, Mary ann booted him out of the box. Perhaps this signals the end of egg laying, perhaps not. Of course we will keep you posted! As R noted earlier, a lovely flourish of trumpets is warranted!

Ta dada DAAA (trumpet flourish!)!!!!

More Big News!

A second egg has been laid! We are quite sure that it was not present yesterday. While we are not quite sure of when the first was laid (though within the last week), we are quite sure of the date of this one: today. Therefore, we will be able to fairly accurately time how long it takes to hatch (assuming they will hatch in order...which may not be a fair assumption). Mary Ann continues to roll both of them (could not get video of that) and also, sits on both of them. This may be anthropomorphising, but it seems that Sutcliffe, who is spending a lot of time in the nest box, is getting on her nerves. He needs to let her brood on the eggs. Instead, he "scuttles about" and disturbs her. Surely he is trying to protect his little family in his own way.

BIG news!

An EGG!

We got the webcam hooked up today, and lo and behold, AN EGG. Naturally, we were very excited. I hope we did not disturb the parents too much in webcam set up. They seemed a bit agitated during the set up. Mary ann came out and I witnessed the GIANT budgie crap as well. So far, one egg. It seems to be nestled in a tiny collection of feathers (very cute). At one point, Mary Ann was rolling it about, and at others, both she and Sutcliffe covered it with their bodies. They spent a bit of time outside of the box after the "webcam set up disturbance". We will keep you posted. Of course. Keep your fingers crossed for 1. a healthy brooding and hatching of this egg and 2. laying, and health, of more eggs. And of course, 3. Health of the parents. and Finally 4. Successful blogging.