Sunday June 30

Another day of checking nests...found two more failed nests. They incubated too long and are giving up...both adults seen on both nests but no incubating, just perching and preening. Some of these birds may fill their time by building a "frustration" nest. I also found another nest attempt that blew down in the big storm...and they are rebuilding, tho it looked a little half hearted. Watched some tiny chicks being fed at other nests...too small to see, but the parents were leaning into the nest cup with tiny bits of fish and coming up with an empty beak, so someone's eating it! This is how we determine that a nest has hatched. We cannot see the chicks until they are about ten days old usually, but we can see the feeding behavior of the adults. I also observed some older chicks, with feathered breasts, a little down left, as they toddled around the edge of the nest, taking in the world around them. Noticing all the landmarks of "home".