Karula National Park (Karl II and Kaia)

[Madli]

09.19 KAIA arrives. One chick growls and clatters bill. Angry little one Karl and Kaia have a long and nice greeting. Kaia's legs and belly feathers are wet and dirty.
Karl's nest duty was 2 h 22 min.

[Madli]

Karl brings fresh materials:
09.24 Moss
09.32 Moss
09.37 Moss / Grass

Meanwhile Kaia is preening and cleaning the chicks very thoroughly.

[Madli]

10.46 FEEDING (3) Some very big frogs from Kaia. All eat at least one frog. Kaia starts to eat back very fast.


11.20 Kids are looking for some shade from Kaia.

[Madli]

11.53 FEEDING (4) Leftover frogs..#1 and #2 eat. #3 can't get these big frogs. Kaia eats one back.


12.33 KARL. A quick exchange, Kaia leaves immediately.
Kaia's nest duty was 3 h 14 min.


12.35 Karl gets into feeding position. Then he looks up and stops.
12.37 Karl continues, the chicks are biting his bill already.

12.37 FEEDING (5) Big fish from Karl. #3 grabs a fish, but older sibling tries to steal it- #3 is strong and doesn't give away the fish All eat well!

[Madli]

12.50 One of the older chicks (#2 maybe) finds a piece of nesting material from ther edge of the nest and plays with it a little


I find it very difficult to tell the difference between #1 and #2...they are nearly the same size

13.43 Older chick stands up for about 5 seconds. Holding balance with its wings on the ground.


Also from a zoom photo you can see that very tiny black feathers are already developing and starting to show from the wings and tail.




As a reminder- #1 and #2 are 13 days old today- but in my opinion they have been fed very well and they are developing in a fast tempo. To me, they seem even bigger than the chicks from Jõgeva nest, who are today 19 days old..

[Madli]

14.15 The stream stops again..


17.57 Stream resumes. Kaia is in the nest.

[Madli]

18.00 It starts to rain slightly.
All the chicks are sleeping- they must be full and well-fed in the time when there was no stream

18.29 Thunder reached Karula..

18.31 Self preening and the other older sibling is preening #3.

[marika.solo]

Madli,

No3 after the last feeding (frogs?)
fish are very important to them in terms of nutrition, but frogs satiate them for a much longer time

[Madli]

18.45 FEEDING (6) A pile of nice sized fish from Kaia- not very small, not too big. All eat with good appetite.




Chicks are twittering of happiness

[marika.solo]

... Chicks are twittering of happiness

and than food-coma follows