These multiple-birds-videos tend to become quite long.
Sorry about that, but there are some days since the last one and there have been quite a lot of activities on the nest roof at the time.
Usually there is not that much tension on the roof, but because of the special situation several gulls try to claim it.
So many parallell (but very interesting) stories, it's almost overwhelming.
The gull chicks are getting close to lift off.
It can actually happen any day now.
A little windy day is perfect for testing wings' strength.
If it blows too much, they might even be blown off the roof while rehearsing.
They are not proper pilots the first rounds, so they should be a little careful.
Kid2 is really doing very fine.
Kid1's leg seems to be fully recovered. She's also doing very fine.
Kid3's injury goes a little back and forth.
Spending so much time on the slippery plastic part of the roof has probably not been the best for the leg.
In addtion we have seen adult gulls harassing her.
This is new to us.
Maybe it has something to do with birds' pecking orders?
Has it become too crowdy on the roof?
The mother doesn't pay special attention to her, but this might be the gulls' way.
Last year one of the chicks fell down accidently from the roof (and hurt her leg).
It took some hours before we realized what had happened.
The parents were not worried at all.
When we put the injured chick back on the roof, the parents showed no special interest.
It might be hard to understand, but the gull rules have evolved for thousands, maybe millions of years.
They have worked very well until recently.
We think it's a dilemma, both respecting the 'ways' and at the same time know about the 'new' times birds and animals live in.
We are concerned Kid3 will fall behind from the others eventually.
Yesterday she seemed bad, today a little better.
Except for offering supplementery food and potentially nice nesting fascilities, we have this 'rule' of not intervening. In the normal we try to stick to this 'rule' (even though it can some times be spontaneously and emotionally 'overruled'). We try the best we can to not 'overrule' the birds' way. Because of the closeness the cams give us we can see what otherwise goes on unnoticed. This is both good and bad.
Gher keeps on dropping 'bombs' on us. This is...we're really not used to it.
We have all the way excused and explained her to ourselves about her being a single parent...loosing her partner...she's a good mother...but she's also a 'special' one.
She comes very close to the description some people (that don't like gulls) give gulls.
Being aggressive and loud to 'all and everything', far above the 'tolerable'.
We have thought (and still do) that by treating gulls properly and respectfully this 'problem' is very much eliminated. We think she's an exception.
Some times she seems to get calmer, only to (for no reason we understand) returns to her 'normal' self the next moment.
If it were not for the chicks, we would probably have stopped giving her attention.
This is not pleasant for her, nor for Lady and Wing or any other.
One of 'us' think Ghim even might have got fed up with it all and just left...
The other one of 'us' think it's 'impossible' for a parent male to leave chicks.
Who knows?
The return of Exon and Exona have been very pleasant.
They are a nice and funny couple.
It seems they have started to think about the roof as a nice nesting spot, maybe for next year?
Exon even tried to claim the nest from Gher and Ghim this spring, so the interest has maybe been there all the time.
We think it's a litte strange they spend so much time on the roof now.
Don't they have chicks to care for?
But they fly to the seaside immediatly after they have eaten...
Lady and Wing seem to be on their schedule.
Having these friendly disputes around lying on the eggs.
Wing still shows interest in other female gulls.
But he seems to be an overall nice guy.
We wonder how Lady can be so relaxed to Wing's niceness to other females.
Both the Footies and the Shegulls might also be interested in the roof.
They usually stay out of it, but they are constantly close.
There is also other gulls we don't know showing up.
The magpies thrive as they meet in and around the nest in the steel tree.
They do a lot of that flirting, also seemingly and constantly tidying up the nest.
This tidying (and of course 'beaking') are claiming and bonding activities.
They have allowed their chicks to move away from this year's nest, and now also into our garden.
The adults follow the chicks for some time after they fledge, feeding them, learning them what's to be learned.
We have not seen the OC chicks for a while.
We can hear them though.
We know about where they are, at the seaside and in the marina.
We expect to see them more when they start to use their wings.
One of the adult OC has a limp that comes on and off.
They do fall into disputes at times.