The Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre’s streaming cam was off line. It came back on line at 07:49 on 10 December, Day 8 for Daisy.
Daisy is on the nest and has been removing more down for the nest cup. I am going to have to presume that she arrived as she would any typical day, before sunrise which was at 05:38 today. She would have laid egg 8 and it would have dried. She is now incubating the eggs as she has for the past couple of days.
The wind is starting to pick up. It is 08:49 and the forecast is for an 80% chance of rain beginning at 09:00 changing to 100% chance of rain for the rest of the day. Certainly the rain will not bother Daisy and as long as she is on her eggs they are warm and dry. The rain might help keep the predators away – I am not sure. As you know I have been wondering about the amount of down that Daisy has and I was reminded this morning by a good friend that Daisy is actually laying these eggs one month earlier than the last time she attempted to hatch eggs here the beginning of January 2021.
You can see the big duck eggs in the egg cup. Daisy is removing down.
She tucks it in around the edge of the eggs.
Once Daisy finishes tucking, she rolls around on the eggs.
Except for the visit by the two Ravens and Lady and Dad arriving one evening when Daisy was gone, it has been relatively quiet for our little duck. Last time she played tag with Dad. He was determined to find out who was using his nest. They would only miss one another by seconds. I ‘think’ that might be more difficult this clutch because of the lack of nest material to cover the eggs. It makes it very worrisome. Once Daisy finishes laying all of the eggs – oh, geez, I really hope she is done – she will have another long month of incubation.
Daisy was not more than comfortable and the Ravens came to the nest. Here is a video. You need to hear the distant sound, see Daisy hunker down, and see her protect her eggs.
Oh, Daisy is such a brave and determined little duck! As long as there is only one or two Ravens, she just might be able to hold her own. And as long as she is on those eggs I do not think they can get them – unless, of course, they come with 5 or 6 friends. Whew. That was nerve wrecking. I cannot even imagine how Daisy felt when she heard those Ravens coming and had that one right on the nest. My goodness.
Keep sending your positive wishes to Daisy. As long as everything stays OK on the nest with Daisy, you will not hear from me until tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.
Thank you so much for joining me. Stay safe.
Thank you to the SeaEagles@BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures and video clips.