Thursday, November 25, 2010

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Fledging (Nov 25 2010)

Almost two weeks after a near catastrophe, the Kings finally brought their babies out to meet the world. My reward for saving the family, was a front row seat to witness two fledglings emerge from their nest hole. The first came out at around 6.30 am (because of poor lighting the photo is fuzzy).
I suspect that there may have been a third fledgling that emerged earlier as Mrs King stayed in the forested area while Mr King was responsible for coaxing the two fledglings out with the promise of a tasty morsel of food in this instance a small millipede.
He flew to the nest entrance to tempt the last fledgling before flying up to his usual wire perch. to watch gently coaxing the fledgling in the nest  Finally, the little bird gains enough courage to fly a good 10 feet to my neighbor's awning.
Papa flew back to the nest entrance to check if there were any stragglers before he flew over to tempt the last fledgling with food. By 8.30 am the family have safely re-located to the edge of the forest. If I'm lucky I should still be able to catch glimpses of the family as the parents now need to teach the fledglings how to hunt. I hope the pair will return again next year to raise kings again.

No comments: