Swift Half SWIFTS update - 21st June 2011

• The longest day of the year - and both our little swifts (one day old and two days old) are being fed every 45 minutes or so by alternate parents.
• The process is the same each time - parent A incubates both young (after feeding them) for 45 minutes or so. Parent B meanwhile, is ousted from the nest and goes to collect a throat-full of flies, midges and beetles from the sky. Parent B returns within the hour, ousts parent A from the nestlings (who then sets off on a food search) and feeds the nestlings - then incubates them itself for 45 minutes. Repeat from 5am - 10pm today. Pretty hard work eh?
• The chicks are hard to make out in these clips at present - but at the rate they seem to be growing even now, they will soon be much easier to see - as will the feeding process.
• Clip number thirty-two is now on my website, which shows both chicks being fed.