Posted at 7.30pm

Poor old (or should that be 'young') number 4 has been left behind ... and we wonder what is in store for it over the coming days.

The eldest fledged at 20 days with the other two being 19 days old. Number 4 is just 17 days young, and that means it may have another two long days to go until it feels that it is ready.

But what happened once number 3 had left - how did number 4 react to the situation?

Number 4 almost tried to Fledge !
This feisty little character certainly has some determination, and quite understandably felt a little left out after the others had gone.

It spent just under two minutes wandering the box and calling until it decided that it too would like to see what the hole was all about.

It hauled itself up to the window and stayed there for just under a minute and a half:

As we were in the garden trying to see where the others had gone it gave a great view as it peered out of the entrance - and at times we honestly thought the little fellow was going to make a leap of faith.

Thankfully it didn't, it's far too young to try and live in the wild yet:

The realisation of what has just happened at 9.10am sinks in, and number 4 is alone.

Is the Youngest Member of the Family OK?
The answer is we don't know ... looking back at how the others were at 17 days, number 4 does look a little behind, and it still has fluffy head gear, a flattened beak and smaller eyes:

In contrast, the pictures below from two and three days ago show how the other three were at their respective stages of development:

Number 4 may well have problems and it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect it might have trouble over the next few days. Of course there is the question as to why it hatched so late compared with the others. Many birds which hatch late get complications, and sometimes it has had something to do with the humidity levels under which is was incubated.

Obviously we hope all will be well, but we need to flag this up just incase anything should happen to it.

It is Not Forgotten
The parents have not forgotten number 4, well not dad anyway!

It 'appears' that for most of the time, mum has taken the other three off to look after and feed them, and dad is staying in the vicinity to look after the last one.

So far it looks like the longest it has gone without food is about 30 minutes, but most of the time it is getting attention every 15 or 20 minutes:

As the afternoon wore on, the female began to make more appearances, although we couldn't hear the other three nearby.

Both spent a period of time visiting and feeding the loner just before 6.00pm:

Number 4 gets three welcome feeds from mum and dad here.

And a little later after another round of mealworms went unnoticed by the Robin, Starlings and Jackdaws, dad fed again.

It might be nothing to worry about, but this little chap doesn't always latch onto these anymore and we've seen both parents remove a worm from the chicks' mouth:

How will it cope tonight? It would be great if a parent returned to look after it and keep it warm, but that is probably just wishful thinking.

Today has been cooler than of late with a high of 21.3°C although it has dropped 3 or 4 degrees over the past couple of hours.

Hopefully the night won't be too cold as it no longer has the body warmth of its siblings as comfort, although the cameras and transformers inside the box will help in some small way.

Three Fly to Freedom
As promised in the earlier entry, here is a video showing the whole fledging from 9.00am until one was left, only 9 minutes later ...

In just under 5 months since the camera box was switched on, three fly to freedom.