Quite unexpectedly I found a clutch of four Goldfinch eggs in one of our main aviaries. It was later completed with one more egg. The first egg hatched on June 20 2022.
In the beginning of the incubation period we had a first heatwave this year with temperatures rising well above 40 degrees. Thanks to the sprinklers, the fans and the new reflective sheet on the roof the temperatures were kept under control.
In the following days the temperatures dropped to somewhere in the high twenties, low thirties.
All the chicks were ringed on day 6, but the next day all the rings had disappeared without a trace.
On day 9, the youngest two chicks were ringed again. One with a ring I had found on the aviary floor, another with a spare one.
On day 10, one of the chicks was found dead on the aviary floor. Another one was balancing on the edge of the nest, but I pushed it gently back in.
On day 15, after I had noticed that the female had not been on the nest for several hours in the early afternoon, I decided to check the nest and much to my despair, I found both chicks dead. One of them had an empty crop, the oldest one had the crop still fairly filled. So hard to accept.
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| Day 14 |
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| The two remaining siblings on day 12 |
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| Day 9 |
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| Day 9 |
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| Day 7 |
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| Day 6 |
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| One of the chicks on day 6 |
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| Day 4 |
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| Day 3 |
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| Day 2 |
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| Day 2 - Three chicks have hatched |
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| Day 1 (June 20 2022) - First chick has hatched |
