SWIFT DIARY 2011 PICTURES & VIDEOS














Hint: play this second video full screen (click the arrows in the lower right corner) to see more details.



Nest box 1:


Nest box 2:
  











Hint: play full screen using the arrows in the lower right corner of the player!



Entry of both Swifts into box no. 1.


Entry of one Swift into box no. 1, the other into box no. 2.






  








Entry of a Swift with nesting materiaal, normal speed and slowed down.


A Swift enters and starts to brood.


A Swift with nesting material entered, adds the material to the nest and takes over brooding.


A combination of two clips of more entries with nesting material. The second entry was 20 minutes after the first.



A Swift leaves the nest box and allows some following.



A first glimpse of the first hatched young Swift!



Feeding the young Swifts.


Bangers around our house.


More Swifts around our house.


One last video of bangers around our house.



The three young are fed.



It's getting hard to cover the rappidly growing young Swifts!


Feeding the young.



The three young are fed and the nest is kept clean...



A parent leaves the nest.



The young are fed.



Feeding the young.



A chaotic feeding session.


The young are really starting to look like Swifts! :)



The second parent of three young Swifts in on of my nest boxes returns to feed the young.



The young Common Swifts out of the nest on a very warm (30 degrees Centigrade) day. A parent comes in to feed. The 2nd box is still empty.


One of the young Swifts practises flight by flapping it's wings and doing push-ups. A parent enters to feed and cleans the nest by eating the droppings.



One of the young Common Swifts in one of my nest boxes does a little moonwalk at 0:46. A bit later, a parent comes in to feed the young.



One of the Swift chicks practises.



Just a quiet view of the young Swifts. Note the white edges of the wing feathers. Those are some of the details I have to watch for now to tell the young apart from the adults when I can't see the pale face for example.



The second parent of the three young in one of my nest boxes comes home late in the evening (half past ten) with a throat full of food, very clearly visible at 0:07.



  

Two of three young Swifts practise flight.


A chaotic feeding session. Recorded just after the practise of two of the young (see above).



One of the young Swifts practises. Everywhere. Even on top of it's siblings...


Pictures taken from across the street:

     



A 'feeding session' without a parent? The young respond to something in the way they do when a parent enters, but that's not the case. Perhaps one of the young saw a parent approach that didn't enter in the end?


Both parents come in to feed the young. Recorded just after the video above.



A frantic practise session! Note how the young actually jumps pushing itself up on it's wing tips!



The last two of three young Swifts in my nest box fledge in the morning (10:30)...


The parents in the evening. This video shows a clear bolus of insect food in the throat of one of them and how it's eaten several minutes after the bird entered.



The parents of three fledged young Swifts enter my nest box at around ten in the evening.



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