And they are gone...

The season of 2008 has come to an end. 2 fullgrown young have left the nest around july 21st. Till july 28, the parents slept on the nest at night.
Maybe next year another episode of the swiftwebcam.

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A swifts timing

The young birds are getting some fuzzy feathers. At this time both parents can go out to hunt for food. The young will be more often allone on the nest at daytime.

Swifts lay their eggs with intervals of about 24 to 30 hours. as long as there are more eggs to come, they won't hatch their eggs. So at the time a parent is on the nest for a longer stay, the hatching is started. This way the egg's will come out at more or less the same time. And after 42 days the young will leave the nest together. Mum and Dad will then stay at night at the nest for several days before they also leave for Africa.
We once had a 'late' chick that was born a few days after the others. That one left the nest a few days later than it's brothers and sisters. But for now I'm rather sure that their is no third egg or young.

Two or three

Visitor Jasmijn just saw clearly two little swifts in the nest. But nevertheless, two years ago when the birds got a little bigger, there suddenly was a third one.

There it is...

A bit earlier as espected: the young birds are there. Difficult to see if it are two or three young. Who can tell me?

Hatching

From last sunday the birds are hatching their eggs. Around 14 or 15 june the chicks will be out of their egg. At daytime one at a time one of the birds is at the nest. In the evening both birds are posing in front of the camera. I didn't manage to see if there is a third egg. Did you manage to see it during one of your visits? Let me know.

And that makes two

This afternoon a second egg was visible. Want to be informed about "important" things that happen at the nest? Put yourself on the maillist bij clicking the "join my maillist" link at the left column. Over 100 people did it before you.

There it is: the first egg.

And there it is: The first egg. Three days earlier than last year. Although they arrived much later (april 19th in 2007, April 27th in 2008)
And it never was that visible in front of the camera. As if they know that lots of people are interested in their family life.

Two again

The last view nights there was only one bird at the nest. This evening around 8.30 the second one came also stumbeling in. I wonder if we can expect the first egg this week.

Free-style wrestling

The webcamnest you'r looking at is at the frontside of our house. At the backyardside is also a similar place where swifts can fly under the rooftyles but this is for pro's only. A large tree blocks the approach route, so to speak. But nevertheless the last few days there was some action also.

This evening a bit more then earlier this week. While it was dark already, I still could here swifts scream and I also thought I hear some noise of wings flapping at the flat roof of our build-out.

When I climbed up I could see two swifts, in free-style wrestling action. They must have fallen down in a fight over this great place to build a nest. One let go and stumbled to the edge of the roof and fel down. A 3 meter drop was enough for him to gain speed en fly away. As I said. This spot is for pro's only.

The other could not manage to fly away so I had to pick him up. A great opportunity to make some pictures. It was not my first handheld swift but it still is a beautifull sight to see a swift so upclose. No roboswift can compare to that.

A short inspection tells me he is alright. So from 3m high I throw him with a gentle bow up in the air. In the light of a torch I can see him fly away. He disappears silently in the dark night.

I wonder if there will be that much action over this spot again tomorrow. After all, it's a great place there by that tree.

Two

This evening two birds made their appearance at the nest.
About ten birds returned sofar above our neighbourhood. These two got themselves a warm and cosy place in front of the infrared webcam.

home improvement

At this time (21:45 gmt +1) the bird that returned from Africa yesterday, is busy repairing its nest.

A swift on the nest

Today there where over 10 common swifts in the air. And this evening around 19:30 one was spotted on the nest. The camera will be online. At least in the evening hours as long as there is something to see.

Spotted the first swift

Today I spotted the first common swift above my neighbourhood. The webcamnest However stays empty this night.

Another early Bird

Johan Kempeneers suggests this early swiss bird: sunday the 6th of april at the musée d'histoire naturelle de fribour. Camera 10

The first dutch common swift of 2008?

According to this , at march the 30th the first two swifts where seen in Limburg at the south of The Netherlands. A real early appearance. A mistake or not? The common swift fever is all around again...