Cilla added a couple comments to her last update.
Cilla Kinross says:
30 August, 2017 at 12:16 pm
Xavier has really been pulling his weight and during the day has been doing at least half if not more of the incubating. Considering he wouldn’t go near the eggs or chicks last year, this is quite a turn around, but of course they are HIS this year (and isn’t he pleased to show off his talents at regular intervals!).
He is nearly a third smaller than Diamond. I regularly use a ruler to check length and width against the dimensions of the box to be sure I have the right bird as they often switch so quickly that i miss it (and with the light out again, it can be really difficult when they swap in the early morning gloom). It’s really annoying me, too, as I can’t tell what Diamond is actually doing in the night (or if she’s there at all sometimes).
Hopefully the light will be back up by the weekend, but unfortunately I can’t help Scott as I’m off to a conference in Brisbane tomorrow morning early (terrible timing, I know). I have a volunteer helping with the data recording, but he won’t be updating the website, so it will be a bit quiet over the next few days. I’ll be back today week.
If egg number three arrives before I have to leave this afternoon, I’ll put up a video. If it comes tonight, well too bad, I’m afraid.
Cilla Kinross says:
30 August, 2017 at 12:17 pm
Just to add – I expect Xavier’s efforts to tail off if we get three or more eggs as he is just too little to cover a large brood.