The babies are a week old today. There are 4 - for several days I was not sure whether there were 4 or 5 (there were 5 eggs). I don’t know what happened to the 5th. egg - maybe it was infertile and didn’t hatch. Maybe the parents broke it - they would have eaten shell and contents, I think. Or maybe the chick died and has been thrown out - the parents are fastidious about keeping the nest clean and are always searching around for any debris.
The four babies are growing so fast and now look very slightly fluffy, not just skin. Mum and Dad are working hard and at the moment there are a great many long black flies being brought for the chicks. Sometimes the parent will give the fly an extra shove down the chick’s throat if it seems to be struggling, and I have also seen them pick the morsel out and re-present it.
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