birds!

[kaberett]

Today's dragging myself out of the house involved dropping off a parcel in town and then coming home via the allotment.

... but between dropping off the parcel and making it to the allotment I detoured to visit the various baby birds we met last week.

Item the first: it is VERY hard work being a teenager. I can tell because all of them were in sleepy piles in their various nests.

Item the second: I have now had the privilege of watching a nesting coot threat display at mallards it felt were getting Far Too Close To The Nest. I cannot describe it in any way other than Angry Popping Noises.

Item the third: SIX EGGS SIX EGGS SIX EGGS when we were there last week we only saw three but there are now VERY DEFINITELY SIX. (I've just looked it up and the incubation period is apparently 21-24 days. Regular Visits Ahoy.)

... item the fourth: when it stood up to rearrange the EGGS (did I mention that there are SIX OF THEM) I observed that what had appeared to be a miscellaneous bit of litter, something of the general ilk of a crisp packet or foiled chocolate wrapper, had in fact been very carefully and deliberately arranged in a manner inexorably reminiscent of... a thermal blanket. (Can I find this attested? Not trivially, but...)

Item! the fifth! Unhatched birds can warn others of danger by vibrating shells. What even.

Comments

[watervole]

I wonder why they prefer white plastic....