On the last weekend it already seemed as if at least one of the two chicklets had hatched but since the nest was basically always occupied by one of the adult birds it was impossible to say so with certainty. Then, yesterday, there it was!
At first, I was not quite sure what I was actually seeing. It looked like the adult bird was disgorging a pellet (I know they do not do that, but that is what it looked like to me) or even eating one of the chicklets until I realised that the fluffy white thing was a fledgling getting fed by its parent. The chicklet shoved its own beak into the adult one's in a way that looked plain brutal.
Today, when the adult bird left the nest for a few moments, I was able to take a proper look at the young bird. It seems to develop well, is lively and has a good appetite.
The only thing that puzzles me is the exact number of the fledglings,
because when I pepped into the nest I thought there were two chicklets snuggeled up to each other
(there were two eggs after all), but now when I look at the picture I
took it appears as if there is only one. Well, I was a bit pushed for time as the adult birds are always gone for only one minute or so and I had to get the camera first. So, due to the fact that it was somewhat hectic, I am not really sure anymore what I actually saw, could have been one fledgling, could have been two.
