Last night the pair in box 3 roosted, along with one adult and the two swiftlets in box 2. It's been so hot today, I stopped looking at the thermometer when it reached 30 degrees. Luckily all of the swift boxes are on our north facing wall and in shade all day long so hopefully the swiftlets didn't get too stressed out by it. They weren't gaping with the heat although one of them was hanging out of the nest with it's head on the floor of the box, but it's OK, I think it was just trying to cool off. The adult bird came in several times to feed today, and also did a bit of housework, it was seen to pick up bits from the floor of the box and also swallowed some faeces to take away
The young swiftlets trying to keep cool, the right hand bird is resting it's head on the floor of the box!
There was a bit of a 'raiding' party today, four swifts did several screaming flypasts, and one of them entered box 2 a couple of times but was put off by the youngsters who were alone at the time. It's partner tried to find a back way into the box and also nearly entered the open bedroom window! Another swift entered box 1 briefly this morning.
The raiding party
As always, we look forward to seeing who turns up to roost tonight.
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