One of many pairs of Pied Oystercatchers on Cable Seashore have hatched their eggs this week. There had been one egg within the nest scrape on July twenty fifth and a second egg adopted. This Tuesday I used to be anticipating the eggs to begin to hatch and so they did simply that. As you possibly can see within the header picture the nest was in a really uncovered space, nevertheless it was again from excessive tide and had survived for twenty 9 days. I confirmed you the variation in a few of our location of Pied Oystercatcher nest websites a couple of weeks in the past right here. Each of the Pied Oystercatchers took it in turns to incubate the eggs and now we have had chilly nights and sizzling days, so there was the necessity for heat and shade over that time period.
Shading two eggs
By Friday morning the household of Pied Oystercatchers had moved somewhat to the south to an space with extra vegetation, however equally removed from the ocean. The adults have been clearly discovering meals for the chicks within the mushy sand and feeding them. There are various Black Kites within the space and so they fly up and chase them off if they arrive too shut. The Pied Oystercatcher chicks are spoken to by their dad and mom and you’ll clearly hear them name them to maneuver on after they collapse onto the sand for a relaxation. The chicks nearly disappeared within the vegetation and below their dad and mom.
Pied Oystercatcher household
At one level one of many chicks wandered off to take a seat subsequent to some grey vegetation. The daylight simply gave it away, although, with the sunshine on its little form!
Pied Oystercatcher chick with a sunlit edging!
There are a variety of weeks forward earlier than these Pied Oystercatcher chicks are sufficiently old to fly and be protected from the numerous predators alongside our shoreline. We’re very happy to look at them get to this stage of growth and hope that their dad and mom can shield them till they’re totally fledged.
