Nightingales in November (43 page)

Still totally reliant on their parents, the Bewick's Swan cygnets will require a further six weeks before the ability to take to the air should see their chances of survival boosted substantially. Until then, the perennial twin threats of predation and poor weather will continue to exact a heavy toll, and the number of chicks in most broods will continue to decline throughout the month. Even for the most experienced parents, to have any more than two cygnets still alive at this stage of the breeding season must be considered little short of exceptional. Like many birds, adult Bewick's carry out a complete moult every year, but as the swans will need to replace the key flight feathers as quickly as possible before their autumn migration, this will necessitate a period of flightlessness often lasting around three weeks. Obviously during this period of intense moulting, not only are the
adults themselves more vulnerable to predation, but they will also be far less able to protect their young. Incredibly, to counter this disadvantage, any pairs still with cygnets are able to stagger their moults. With the female thought to moult first, this ingenious mechanism will mean at least one parent is fully winged for longer, which will in turn give the pair a higher probability of being able to successfully defend their cygnets. On the breeding grounds, the last feathers to be replaced before migration will be those belonging to the tail. The body moult, by contrast, will proceed at a much more leisurely rate, meaning that many body feathers are still actively being replaced well after the swans have arrived in their winter quarters.

For those Bewick's Swan pairs either unsuccessful or simply unwilling to breed, a moult will also have to be completed, but being unencumbered by young means there will be no need to stagger their flightlessness. As holding a territory will also have become an unnecessary luxury for these birds, many will tend to form large moulting flocks away from the tundra and in the comparative safety of shallow sea bays and coastal regions. Carefully chosen to limit the access of a variety of terrestrial predators, these locations will still need to provide plenty of aquatic vegetation for the swans to feed on. Moulting flocks might not be the choice of all the swans without young, however, as some will prefer to remain on the tundra during this vulnerable period. Without the water as a protective barrier, these swans will instead choose to either hide or break into a surprisingly fast run should they spot any predators on the horizon!

In the taiga forests to the south of the Arctic tundra those Waxwings that successfully bred should by now have formed into family parties as the newly fledged youngsters join their parents on foraging missions. Any element of territoriality
which existed around the nest will have disappeared the instant the youngsters fledge, as the families roam the forests for food, often over a far wider area than on their wintering grounds. As the short breeding season draws to a close and darkness at night begins to reappear, the dropping temperatures will also see the individual family members begin roosting together to conserve heat. Staying as part of a family unit during this period will also provide the birds with more pairs of eyes to keep a lookout for Sparrowhawks and Merlins, two predators specialising in hunting small, unwary and inexperienced birds. Any excited or alarmed Waxwings that may have spotted potential trouble will quickly adopt an erect posture, with crest raised, to ensure that the other birds in the party are also aware of any imminent danger.

Due to the longer summer encountered back in temperate Britain, those pairs of Kingfishers opting for another brood will see their second clutch of chicks growing quickly as the month draws to a close. Due to the chicks' size there will be little opportunity for the parents to turn around in the crowded nesting chamber, resulting in them having to reverse out of the tunnel after the delivery of yet another meal. When the chicks were young the adults would take great care in gently placing the fish down their throats to ensure they didn't choke. However with their offspring approaching fledging, feeding visits for the parents will consist of little more than a trudge down a slimy tunnel, followed by a slam-dunk down one of the youngster's throats and a reversal back out into the fresh air. At two to three weeks old, the chicks often line up side by side, with their bills pointing towards the tunnel as they await another delivery from their hardworking parents.

By the time that the second brood approaches fledging, those juveniles still going strong from the earlier brood should already have begun to undergo their first moult.
Unlike their parents, currently undergoing a total refit, the juveniles will only replace the head and body plumage during their first year, with most of the flight and tail feathers usually being retained until the following spring. This partial moult will see the youngsters ditching their initially dull plumage as they begin to take on the hues and tones of their parents. However, they will still not be able to pass off as fully mature just yet, as their legs won't develop the characteristic orange-red adult coloration until the following spring.

Bringing up the rear, many Swallows' second broods should finally be hatching as July draws to a close. Following the pattern of the first brood, the removal of the eggshells will often be one of the first indications that the young have begun to hatch, and as the female broods the chicks for the first few days the male will once more have to step up to the plate. Upon hatching, the parents will suddenly take the protection of the nest to a whole new level. Any other Swallows caught close to the nest during this time will be subjected to a barrage of alarm calls and predators like cats or rats will be actively mobbed and even struck if they attempt to interfere with the newly-hatched brood.

For both the young Blue Tits and first brood of Robins, late July should see the continuation of their partial moult, as they slowly embrace the plumage and badges of maturity. Any surviving Blue Tit should by now be in the process of gaining the distinctive white face and bright blue cap, while the spotty brown breast of the fledgling Robin will be making way for the famous orange-red breast which it will use for acquiring and holding a territory in just a few weeks. The adults of both species will also be actively moulting,
and much of their time will be taken up by finding the extra food to fuel the ‘gas-guzzling' replacement of feathers, while still keen to remain largely out of sight. The data analysed from thousands of ringing reports reveals that adult Blue Tits are much heavier at this time of year than during the breeding season, doubtless due to the combination of a far lighter workload without chicks to feed and the relative abundance of food. Certainly for adult Robins, the need to keep a low profile, and the resulting lack of territorial behaviour, will mean that July and possibly early August may well be the only time during the entire year that the British countryside will be devoid of the Robin's song.

Heard here for close to 11 months of the year, the prolific nature of the Robin's song could not be contrasted more sharply with that of the Nightingale, which will have scarcely uttered a syllable for well over a month now. Needing also to complete a much faster moult than our resident birds will mean that by late July many adult Nightingales will look as though they've just been freshly laundered, as they prepare to leave England for Africa. This period before departure is also believed to coincide with a change in the Nightingales' eating habits, as a largely protein-based diet is replaced by one favouring a higher proportion of carbohydrate. As invertebrate prey becomes steadily more difficult to find, the Nightingales will then switch to the abundant amount of fruit suddenly available, blackberries and elderberries being the perfect energy-rich foods with a long, tiring flight just around the corner.