Thanks again to everyone for your kind words and encouragement.
UPDATE – 1st May
There’s been very little to see (and report on) at the nest site since my update of the 14th April, as there’s really not much activity around a Kingfisher nest during the incubation period. Indeed if you didn’t know the nest was in use chances are you’d walk right by it.
All that one generally sees of the birds during this phase of the breeding cycle is as they changeover incubation duties, when one of them flies in to the site, perches near the nest hole, calls to its mate and as the mate leaves the nest hole and flies off the newly arrived bird takes its place in the nest. All this happens in the space of about 30 seconds so if you happen to miss it (as I’ve done whilst pouring myself a coffee in one of my hides
) you’ve then got a wait of at least an hour before the next shift change.
Having said that, on one occasion the female sat on the eggs for 1 hour and 50 minutes before allowing her mate to take over and despite the male arriving at the nest hole some 30minutes earlier and calling her constantly from a nearby perch whilst patiently awaiting his turn. I have absolutely no idea why she did this – perhaps they’d had a row
It’s usual for Kingfishers to have at least two broods and often three in a season. Sometimes they use the same nest hole, having cleaned out the fish bones and other nest waste before the female starts laying the 2nd batch of eggs. However, more often they use a different nest hole near to the first and it’s apparently quite common for one of the birds to begin work on the 2nd hole just before the first batch of fledglings leave the nest.
However, whilst I was at the site yesterday evening I watched the male digging a new nest hole in a bank some 20 metres or so from the original hole and only about 30 cms above the water level. None of the 4 books on Kingfishers that I’ve read in recent weeks reports such behaviour before the first batch of eggs has even hatched, so it seems that this male is either particularly well organised and forward thinking or has perhaps decided that he might as well make himself useful during the periods that his mate keeps him waiting around
Incubation typically takes 18 – 21 days and if my calculations are correct I believe that hatching is due any day now, after which the level of activity around the nest site should really take off with the parent birds needing to bring in up to 100 fish per day to feed their young - I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, here’s a couple of photos of the male and female in fairly unusual poses –
Jeff