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Charlie Fleming | all galleries >> Birds of the world in Rough Taxonomic order. Species count to October 2024 is 1006 >> Blackbird - Turdus merula >> Breeding Blackbirds 2011, a diary > Day 1
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09-APR-2011

Day 1

Chicks were discovered in the nest, early on the morning of April 9th. It is usual for all eggs to hatch together. The chicks were pinkish with a tinge of yellow, covered in wispy, slightly damp greyish down. When they hatch they are totally blind and helpless, this is described as altricial. They have under developed feet and beaks. Later in the morning the wispy down had dried and was then fluffy. A sample weight of one chick was 7.4 grams. Before they fledge in two weeks, they will have increased their weight at least 10 fold. 35grams at 8 days is considered light and the average would be around 40 which suggests that body weight should increase by 5 times in eight days.

Pentax K-5
1/180s f/3.2 at 90.0mm iso800 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time09-Apr-2011 09:40:37
MakePentax
ModelPENTAX K-5
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length90 mm
Exposure Time1/180 sec
Aperturef/3.2
ISO Equivalent800
Exposure Bias-0.70
White Balance
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programaperture priority (3)
Focus Distance

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