birds of a feather

The young are 10 days old now. They are covered in down. And at the oldest wings you can spot even the beginning of its wingfeathers. (See the video). There is enough to eat: weather is fine so mum and dad bring food very regular.

And there is young swift number two

And ther eit is, number two. This night at 7:30 pm I witnessed a feeding session. One of the parents enters the nest with a mouth full of nice bugs. Pre-chewed. The two youngster seem not to be that hungry but: they must eat. In about 42 days they must be ready to fly to Africa. But before that they must grow wings, feathers and more birdstuff.
See the video.

nice and warm...

While the other returned swifts fly outside around the block, the two in this nest went early "to bed". There are over 20 swifts returned now to the colony. They are inspecting the houses for small gaps where they can find a place to make a nest. These two at the webcam seems very experienced. Although they left 9 months ago for Africa, they exactly seem to know the way to their old nest. Last year, 10 days after their return the first egg was there. This year they wehere a little late. I wonder when we can expect the eggs this time.

and then there where two...

This morning we spotted a second common swift in the nest.
Thanks to Geoff Beale for sending a note. So now there are two. The weather is cold, rainy and windy here at Aalsmeer, The Netherlands. So they stayed on the nest this morning. Resting and cuddeling.

lonely, yet not alone

New common swifts are seen all over the country. They are registered by birdwatchers on a website called waarneming.nl. The birds arrive in small groups and the "big return of the swift 2007" hasn't started yet. The weather is not to blame: it's to hot for the time of year and there are lots of insects available. So the sky is a rich dish for them. These evening there where three swifts flying above my neighbourhood. This webcam-guy (or girl) did not "pick up " one of them so he stays alone in his comfortable nest. space enough. Looked at by about 130 visitors a day. Luckily he don't know that. Would you sleep for a minute if you did?

A long sleep

The bird took a long rest after his long journey. Just before 9:00am he/she left the nest to go outside. The first weeks (untill all the eggs are there) you will find a swift on its nest mostly during the evening and nighttime. My timezone here is GMT +1:00

While we wait...

While we wait for the arrival of the swiftpair, here's a video I made in 2005.