26/27 April - Female Blackbird returns to her nest, two eggs laid

first two eggs

Well strictly speaking, the hen bird had returned briefly to her nest once or twice, very fleetingly, in the previous week. I'd noticed her doing some very energetic rummaging inside the nest cup, head down, tugging furiously, then settling herself into the cup and rounding it out again with vigorous pummelings of her breast. At the time I was unconvinced that this heralded a return, although looking back I was just thinking that way to avoid dissapointment. Her spring cleaning was so vigorous that she turned the entire nest by about 45 degrees.

26 April:- I come into the kitchen at about 10.00am and get ready to set up my work for the day when I notice the hen bird is sitting on her nest. I'd checked the nest the previous night so I knew it was empty; when she left the nest about 1 1/2 hours later, it was a thrill to see the pretty sky blue egg she had laid, and even lovelier to realise that she may have been in the process of laying it as I sat working only a couple of feet away. She knows I am there, and as long as I stay on my side of the glass I suspect she doesn't mind.

27 April:- She's a bit later today; she arrives at around 11.30am, and I am already hard at work. I keep a close eye on her from the moment she arrives, and am rewarded with seeing her go through her egg labour. Within about 10 minutes or so, (during which she fidgets and turns upon the nest) she sinks further into the nest, her breathing becomes laboured and it is evident that she is hard at work too. I'm unsure that I saw the precise moment an egg was laid, but she certainly relaxed noticably at one point, and a minute or so later went head first into the nest to see what she could see. She sat tight on the nest for about another hour and a half, then flew off. It tickled my spine when I peered into the nest cup and saw a second egg of that gorgeous blue, patterned at either end with maroon speckles. I have learned that blackbirds only begin full time incubation of their eggs once the full clutch has been laid; it allows all the eggs to develop at the same rate. However it seems crazy to me that such precious things should be left pretty much out in the open for however many days it takes before the whole clutch is laid. I can't help feeling protective of them, and when I see a crow perched on our neighbours roof, I open the window suddenly to startle it before it can get an eyefull of eggy bounty.