Sorry, forgot to finish giving y'all the details from the cam last week ...
Oct 9 - Ivy in and out of the box in the morning but at 1645, he had a female guest with a black/green band that was not Princess. She looks like Sandy who has come a'calling the last two Octobers and this spring before Princess arrived. And yes, Ivy was as shameless as he was this spring, lots of head bowing etc.
Oct 10 - Ivy was the only one at the nestbox today and he wasn't calling out to anyone when he was there.
Oct 11 - 1330 Ivy and his American girlfriend were back in the box making goo-goo eyes at each other - lots of head bowing, talking and scrape making - all the same kinds of activities he did with her in the spring. Ivy came back to the box a couple of times alone before the sunset but he was alone and he did some scraping and some sitting and didn't stay long.
Oct 12 - Again, Ivy was the only one at the nestbox today, more scraping, one short call to someone out of camera range and then he was off again.
Oct 13 - The American girl is back but the male I don't believe is Ivy, looks similar, but not quite. They were there once in the morning, once in the afternoon. Didn't stay long and didn't show me any leg to be sure.
Oct 14 - Same as yesterday but have confirmed that first number on female's band is a sideways V, but with the wind haven't been able to see the bottom digit(s) - its hard to see on the green anyway but with the cam shaking, there's been no hope.
Oct 15 - Back in the box twice today and can confirm that Ivy has left the party ... male has a white breast and nice black cap but its not our boy. Got another quick look at the female's band again today and it sure looks like Sandy but I'm not getting a good enough look at the bottom number/digit to be sure. Female has a breast like Princess' though, speckles that run high and a darker belly. Managed to get the top digit on the male's band this after noon, black over green (so another American bird), top digit is an upright W but again no hope of reading the bottom digit.
Oct 16 - Birds were back only once today and hung out briefly before finding a nicer place to spend the day.
Oct 17 - Both of the American birds were back at 0730, 1215 and then just the male at 1645. Lots of head-bowing and talking today. No scraping though. Ivy's the only one that has done that in the box so far.
Oct 18 - 0730 one bird (female I think) in the gloom of dawn perched on the box edge. 0950 male came in with food, followed by female, he didn't want to share and took off. She hung out for about an hour on the box edge doing a bit of preening but only saw her band once - confirmed the sideways V but nothing else. Both were back at 1540 and then again at 1620 then off to where ever they prefer to spend the nights.
