As I arrived at the nest site this morning at 1002 I could hear Kingfisher calling but there was a subtle change today. At 1007 one flew up river on my side, that was different than normal. I was hoping that the youngsters had fledged and I was keen to find out. As the session went on I came to the conclusion that they hadn't. At 1010 another bird was calling, probably the other one of the pair and it was flying on my side of the river just like the first one. Obviously as the chicks grow and get near to adult size the adults need to catch more and more fish to keep up with them. But today, strangely, after 30 minutes I hadn't seen a bird at the burrow. This was very unusual compared to my observations on the previous 2 days and hard to explain. At 1025 I heard a bird approaching but it didn't enter the nest and I didn't see it either. Then I heard some much more excited calling, this usually happens when the birds meet each other but still I didn't t see a bird at the nest. Then one of those dog walkers who wants to encourage their dog in to the river, turned up. Yesterday evening I actually watched Kingfishers entering the nest with fish while all that was going on nearby so I was not too worried. Contrary to all you read, these Kingfishers are not that easily disturbed. As if to contradict me though, a Kingfisher called an alarm and then flew away. I had still not seen a bird at the burrow, maybe they had fledged but I would expect to see young Kingfishers if that was the case? Kingfisher watching can be traumatic and I hoped everything was OK but I was starting to get pessimistic again.
After an hour at 1100, even though I had heard Kingfishers repeatedly both flying by and up and down river I had yet to see one enter the nest burrow, that was most unexpected. This is a change in behaviour, could it be that the adults are trying to encourage the youngsters to leave the nest by not feeding them? At 1110, at last a bird delivered food and then within a minute or so another. They had obviously been well fed before I arrived. It was another 30 minutes before another delivery but then there is a constant visit, every 15 minutes or so.
My conclusions from this visit: The chicks are continuing to be fed. The parents were unusually quiet with less calling than on my previous visits. The birds seemed to arrive at the nest burrow quietly and fly straight in. That is quite a feat of flying skill. They always arrive from the same direction and then depart back to where they had come from. I suspect that, as they were flying in and leaving in silence, I had missed some of the food deliveries earlier on. Just by taking your eyes away from the burrow for even a second could mean that you miss them.