20 Days Old
They are twenty days old today and it has been seven days since they fledged. They are still being fed by their parents. I saw both of them last night. This morning I located only one of them until later in the day both came to my garden when I went out to feed the parents.
Dad is looking kind of rough.
Mom on the other hand tries to keep her feathers well preened, but also keeping an eye out for danger.
Some observations -
I noticed the female has not been working on that third nest lately. A couple of days ago I saw her take a small piece of dead grass to it. As she did this the male came in and appeared to chase her away from it. I was not sure if I miss read it though. Then today she went back to it and there was no question, the male did not allow her to work on it, he chased her away from it when she tried.
Twice yesterday I suspected there was possibly a bird of prey in the area. I saw the female on the ground being very still. I was somewhat close to her and she didn’t move - I backed away so as not to cause her to fly (and become a meal). I then noticed the male too was very still, in the grass, a short distance away. They stayed in this pose for at least 30 minutes.
The two fledglings where together again today. At this point they are sometimes flying in to my garden/walkway when I call the parents to get fed.
