ML640038666

Media notes

An adult can be heard at the very beginning and then begging calls from two juveniles.

Observation details

Continuing at this location. We heard an adult call twice on the hike in. But on our return, we must have passed the nest just as an adult brought food because we heard the adult plus what sounded like 2 young. We eventually located one of the young and the nest, which was empty. The youngster was very recently out of the nest and was rather clumsy although it seemed to fly and land fairly well. Both it and an unseen sibling called frequently. While we were watching the visible youngster, an adult arrived with food, calling as it entered the area. The youngster we were watching got the food but we couldn’t see the handoff. A little while later an adult brought more food and it appeared to bring it to the nest (the nest was blocked at this point from our vantage point) as two youngsters made their way back to the nest, with what appeared to be the older of the two (bigger with a longer tail) ending up getting the prey and eating in the nest. The other perched nearby. They were very quiet at this point and we watched for another 15 minutes or so and the rest of the time they didn’t make a peep. We would have completely missed the nest and the opportunity to observe the family had we passed during a quiet period, so we felt lucky to have timed it just right. We got some photos and a recording of the begging youngsters.

Additional species

• Vaux's Swift Chaetura vauxi