[Terry W]

Can anyone help with a query on Grey Wagtail feeding.

I've been watching and photographing a pair feeding there young and it seems that only the female is doing the feeding. When she come back to the nest with food in her beak he comes back with her but he never comes back with any food. He always waits for her to feed the young and then he flies off with her again to get food but always comes back with her without food.

I have looked in the book and it says that both parents do the feeding, so does anyone know of any reason why this might be?

Many thanks, Terry.

[Gordon]

Hi Terry,

I've been watching a pair recently and both parents have been collecting and carrying food.

cheers
Gordon

[RobF]

Obviously Gordon's Grey Wag male is a new age man!!

Collins Nests, Eggs and Nestlings say both parents tend the nest but the female does most of the incubation.

Terry, have you seen the male pass food to the female before she feeds the brood?

We're monitoring a few GW nests, they're still on eggs but I'll have a look to see who's doing the chores when they chip out.

Rob

[Terry W]

Hello Rob,

I have never seen the male pass any food to her when they come back, he usually comes and lands on the roof of the mill just before she arrives back with her beakful. So might he have passed the food to her before they arrived back at the nest site? I do now know that they only have 2 chicks, the man who owns the mill where they are nesting let me look through the mill window where you can see the nest. Could only having the 2 chicks be relevant?

Thanks for your reply and I would be interested in your thoughts.
Terry.

[Gordon]

For clarity I should have been clear that both parents were seen collecting and carrying food - but I didn't see which bird actually fed the young. I didn't see the male pass food to the female as I hadn't located the nest site but both birds were off the nest gathering food at the same time. Both had huge mouthfuls (billfulls?) of insects. Unless, of course, they weren't actually feeding young - but seemed to be very large amounts of food to be carrying about if they were only feeding themselves.

cheers
Gordon

[Terry W]

Hi Rob, I think we've double-posted above.

Here is a photo of the female with a beakful of insects for the 2 chicks, it might give you some idea whether yours are feeding or not, depending on the amount of food in their beaks.

Terry.

[RobF]

Having just 2 chicks might be the reason she's doing all the feeding. We nipped out this morning and checked 3 GW nests, 2 were incubating (1 has 6 eggs) but sadly the other had been predated by a corvid.

Rob