UPDATE – 9th May
Well, what a difference a week makes!
Those of you who read my update of 1st May will know that I was then eagerly anticipating the hatching of the first brood, but the last week has been a mix of set-backs, sadness and surprises and, just as I thought I was beginning to understand something of the behaviour of these birds, I now find myself in a state of total confusion
Let me explain –
In my last update I mentioned having seen the male of the pair working on a new nest hole some 20 metres or so from the original and whilst the female was, I assumed, incubating the first clutch. I put this down to the male being “particularly well organised” and making ready for the 2nd brood – however, this assumption proved to be completely incorrect
.
When I visited the site again the following afternoon I found
BOTH birds working on the new nest hole, having apparently abandoned the original nest just at the very point in time when I believed the eggs were due to hatch
Sadly, it soon became clear that the birds had lost all interest in the original nest but why, I wondered, having spent a total of 6 weeks or so in digging out that first hole; laying the eggs and patiently incubating them would they do this?
On closer inspection of the original hole I found some evidence of the vegetation on the top of the bank immediately above the hole having been disturbed. In particular, a rather large prickle had been partly snapped through and now hung down the face of the bank alongside the nest hole, offering an ideal opportunity for a stoat, rat, mink or a similar predator to climb down to the hole and raid the nest. There were, however, no visible signs of actual damage to the nest hole or eggs – no broken shells, no enlargement of the hole, etc. But clearly something serious had happened to cause the birds to abandon their nest at such a stage.
To their credit, the pair continued to work diligently on the new nest hole over the next few days and the cycle of fish passes from male to female, followed by copulation re-started all over again. Only occasionally did one of the birds re-visit the original nest hole, where it would sit for a few minutes on the perch I’d placed a few feet away looking rather forlornly at the hole (or is my imagine perhaps getting the better of me now?) but without any attempt to enter.
This behaviour has since continued with the female spending a lot of time perched low in a bush next to the new nest hole, presumably preserving her energies for egg laying and with the male providing her with a steady supply of fish. Every now and again I’ve seen the female pop into the nest hole for half an hour or so and I’m assuming that the daily egg-laying phase is now underway (again!).
Then, yesterday evening, I again observed the female sat low in the bush near the new nest hole. Within the space of a few minutes the male arrived twice with fish for her and on the 2nd occasion then flew on to the perch near to the old nest hole before actually going into the hole – this was the first time I’d seen either bird do this since they abandoned it a week ago? He was out again after 30 seconds or so, made several shallow cleansing dips in the water and resumed his position on the nearby perch.
Now for the surprise – whilst the female remained in the bush near the new hole and the male stayed on the perch near the old hole, out of the blue a 2nd male appeared and landed on a perch I’ve positioned near the new hole! So I briefly had 3 Kingfishers in vision (but too far apart to get a photo of them all) and although the two males couldn’t see each other due to the bend of the bank between the two holes, they were both calling quite loudly in a very upright and alarmed position and gave the very clear impression that they were aware of each other’s presence.
The 2nd male stayed for only a few seconds before flying off but his brief appearance presented a further possible explanation for the abandonment of the first nest – whilst it is apparently quite common for male Kingfishers to have polygamous relationships with two females (observations made in Russia and Sweden indicate that 20 – 35% of nests involved polygamous couples), the arrival of a 2nd male within the nesting territory of an established pair usually provokes violent aggression between the males and it has certainly been known for them to fight to the death with one bird gripping the other by the neck and drowning it.
It has also been known for the incoming male to attempt to sabotage the established pair’s breeding success by raiding the nest and destroying the eggs, presumably in the hope of breaking the bond between the pair and taking over the male’s role. This, I fear, may well be the explanation for the abandoning of the first nest
I was at the site again at first light this morning but saw nothing of the 2nd male, with the pair going through their usual routine of fish passes from male to female followed by mating. But, unusually, they also made regular visits back and forth between the two nest holes with both birds entering the old hole on at least one occasion and with the female also having a spell of 35 minutes in the new hole – hence my confusion as to what the birds are up to – or perhaps they’re even more confused than me!
Anyway, as ever I’ll keep you posted as things develop and in the meantime here’s a couple of photos of the recent feeding activity (with apologies for the poor quality due to poor light, high ISOs, over-cropping, etc and any other excuses you can think of
)
Jeff
