Friday 21 October 2016

Broody girls saga continues

Well, today Spock's eggs are due to hatch,, if all things are equal. When I went to check this morning Blork's nest was waterlogged and her eggs cold... She is not under shelter and we had over 17mm of rain last night! Poor old thing - I suspect her eggs may not make it. We will take a few and break them today to check progress, but I am certain this cycle of warming and cooling cannot be good.

However, back to Spock. She was off her eggs when I came into the garden, but they were still warm, so I fed her and assumed she would return as she usually does. I came back to the garden a couple of hours later, and she was off again, flying around in little leaps and hops, which is unusual behaviour for her. I wondered if her babies had hatched, and she was scared of them (anything is possible!) so I went to check. No hatching - but Melon was sitting on them! She left the nest as I bent down to look at her, and Spock came up immediately. Melon rushed at her and drove her away, returning to the eggs. Extraordinary behaviour. Spock hunted for a few worms in the waterlogged soil, but every time she came near the nest Melon fluffed up and gave a harsh, aggressive call, and Spock retreated. I kept telling myself "don't interfere" but Spock is thin and tired and has been devotedly sitting for nearly three weeks - it just didn't seem fair for Melon to take over at the last minute. I also worried that if the eggs hatch on schedule, Melon will get a shock (after sitting for such a short time her "broody hormones" cannot be ready to deal with chicks) and she will abandon the babies... So I shooed her off and Spock returned immediately. When I left Spock was angrily calling and attempting to protect her nest against repeated feints by Melon, who was remarkably persistent.
Melon was the quail who sat on the nest WITH Snowpea, when Snowpea hatched her second brood, and co-parented the chicks. Definitely an unusual bird.

Has anyone had experience of anything like this??? We'd love to hear from you if you have!

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