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6th visit: Growing up fast

16th of May 2020

It has been a very rainy week and both Song thrush parents have been very busy in bringing food to their four little ones! Today is the tenth day that I go to visit their nest. I am completely amazed about how fast the chicks are growing! I have uploaded below the pictures of them since the day we discovered they were hatched, so to have a clear sequence of their development. On day 1 they are pink with a bit of fluffy plumage, by day 2 the feathers are starting already to form, and their base (called Calamus) is visible from under the skin. On day 4 the rachis (or central shaft) of the feather is quite visible and starts to come out from the skin of the wings.  On day 6 their eyes start to open, and they confused me with one of their parents by opening their mouth asking for food, while on day 7 their body is completely covered by their plumage. On day 8 their eyes are much more opened but they still confused when a brunch is moved next to their nest thinking its one of their parents.  On day 9 their feathers have almost finished to develop with all their main parts, and loose many of their soft feathers on their head, and they seem to be more aware about their surroundings. On day 10 they really looked already small Song thrushes with their definitive plumage colors. They were very hungry and opened their mouth, but I could see only three chicks, the fourth one was hidden or not sure if it was still alive (?).

Below some videos of the weekly visits.

The Song thrush chicks usually fledge (when they leave their nest) at 13 or 14 days. They usually stay in the nearby area for a few days during which both their mom and dad will continue to feed them, and they will teach the little ones how to fly better, how to find food and catch insects, how to hide from predators (like raptors (owls and hawks), and small mammals like foxes, weasels, etc). This teaching is done with different types of vocalizations (alarm calls when there is a peril, food calls when there is food, and contact calls to be in contact all time also when they cannot see each other in the forest due to the leaves, bushes etc..).

NEW DISCOVERY

During this week we discovered another nest just a few hundred meters from the Song thrush one. It had 5 little beautiful chicks inside!! They looked 1-2 days old and well fed. The nest seemed very fragile, made of small twigs, roots, dry grass and a bit of moss outside to camouflage it. It must be of a small bird couple (smaller than the Song thrush, given the dimension of the nest). We did not yet identify the bird species because they were hiding very well during our presence and we felt that we should not disturb them too much. We will visit them again in the coming days, hide and try to identify the mysterious birds :-)

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ROBIN’S NEST THAT WE DISCOVERED LAST WEEK?