Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Nov 18 twenty10

For some reason, my neighbor insisted on cutting grass on the slope during the heavy downpour on Nov 14. Despite my usual note of caution to the gardener about the nest site, mishap occurred. The gardener accidentally stepped above the nest hole and caused the entrance to collapse as the soil had softened with all that rain water, all the kings hard work almost came to nothing.

A frantic Mr King came back with a lizard only to find that he could not enter his family's nest cavity. After several attempts he flew off disheartened. However, luck was on his side, as I had noticed his distress and went into action. The gardener was summoned back to my neighbor's compound to repair the damage. With guidance he was able to clear the area and create a rather crude new entrance.

When asked if he could see life inside the cavity, he insisted that there was nothing but upon my insistence he looked closely and spotted a chick inside. I made the decision to leave things as is as chances of hand rearing the chick is slim.

The next 24 hours were stressful ones as I wasn't sure if Mr King would return and if Mrs King wasn't buried inside the nest cavity. In the morning Mr King came back and checked out the nest hole and flew off after singing a rather sad song. I had thought that everything was lost but at 3 pm when I returned from my meetings. I heard Mr King sing his usual song with a lizard between his beak. His chick or chicks survived within the 15 minute window he brought two large lizards and successfully handed then into the nest. But what of Mrs King? To this day, I still am not clear as to whether she is in the nest cavity with the chicks or she perished. She is not in her usual position keeping a close watch on her nest.

I do know that the chick/s are well as I can hear them calling from my bedroom, the widened entrance has created a loud speaker.