Kestrel vs Jackdaw | Brutal Fight To Defend 6 Kestrel Bird Eggs

the kestrels here at fullerdale have got six eggs and after a month of incubation they're nearly ready to hatch [Music] but the casseroles haven't had it easy fighting off a whole host of threats here's how the egg laying process began [Music] back in the beginning of april i watch closely as the female arrives at the nest she's easily distinguished from the mail because she doesn't have a grey head and tail [Music] she begins to nescrate the sign she's preparing for eggs kestrels don't collect nest material instead form a shallow depression in which to lay satisfied with the work the female settles down and soon reveals a first [Music] egg [Music] she takes a look at the egg before briefly sitting on it full incubation mode start until the clutch is almost complete [Music] an hour later the female has a visitor her mate arrives with a lizard for her during courtship and nesting the male provides for the female and this lizard is a delicacy now the male heads inside and seize their egg for the first time [Music] he checks it over with his beak and then takes his turn in the nest [Music] kessler's usually lay their eggs every other day so two days later i'm keeping a close eye on that female she enters the nest with purpose and overnight she reveals her second deck 61 hours after the first [Music] she's exhausted from lane and quickly falls to sleep but soon gets an unwanted visitor a barn owl takes a peek but is quickly frightened off by the protective female during the spring nest sites are in high demand so it's not only by now she needs to look out for [Music] in the morning a jackdaw arrives it's after this nest too [Music] the female is panicked last year she lost an egg to a hungry jack door and she doesn't want that to happen again [Music] just in time the male kestrel comes to the rescue scaring it off the eggs are safer now and soon too become three during incubation both the male and the female take their turn on the eggs [Music] but the male doesn't forget his duties providing for his mate [Music] the females seem satisfied with o'meal and soon settles in to lay again [Music] her feathers ruffle up and her breathing becomes heavy all signs she's going to produce another egg but she senses a threat and begins to call out in distress the jack door is back and it's got company this time the female scares them away single-handed with the jackdaws gone she settles down again and a couple of hours later she reveals a fourth egg [Music] but the ordeal isn't over yet the jackdaw returns again this time the male keshel swoops in to see it off but these jackdaws just won't give up the male returns to the nest but he's got company the jackdaw shunts him inside the male hands over his catch and then takes to the skies to pursue his attacker but despite the drama the kestrel's clutch grows again a sixth egg to complete the clutch with six eggs to protect the female must be constantly vigilant fending off more jackdaw attacks as well as some unexpected visitors a male keshel lands on the branch outside but this isn't her mate it's the young male from ashwood still on a hunt for a nest site but it's quickly seen off by the defensive female there are no attacks the next day and i'm beginning to think that jackdaws had given up but then i wake up to shocking scenes inside the nest the female kestrel is gripping tightly to a jack door my cameras haven't recorded overnight due to a power cut but i can only assume they have a dramatic battle inside the nest both birds are obviously exhausted from the fight breathing heavily and the kestrel's face is covered in blood eventually the stalemate ends as both birds scrambled the eggs seem unharmed but they're scattered around the nest and if they're not incubated soon the growing chicks inside will die 20 minutes later the female returns to try and incubate but with the eggs spread out and partially buried she can't cover them all and makes no effort to gather them up if i don't intervene some of the eggs will fail eventually the female leaves the nest giving me an opportunity [Music] i quickly make my way to the nest reform the nes grape and gently rearrange the eggs three of the eggs feel cold and i can only hope my intervention helps now i wait to see if the female will return it's the male that's first back at the nest he seems distressed he can't work out why the eggs have been left [Music] but finally the female returns i'm so relieved she's back inside the nest and soon she settles in again to brood this has been such an ordeal for the kestrels laying and brooding six eggs is tough enough the female has laid half her body weight in eggs but doing this in the face of constant attacks just shows how harder these birds have to be now the kessler eggs are ready to hatch and i can't wait to watch every moment thank you for watching and i hope you enjoyed the video don't forget to like comment and subscribe to see more here's a taste of what you'll enjoy seeing on this channel [Music]

Channel: Robert E Fuller

Views: 4,008,451

Rating: 4.8416028 out of 5

Keywords: battle, egg, eggs, fight, incubation, jackdaw, jackdaws, kestrel, kestrel bird, kestrel bird call, kestrel call, kestrel hunting, kestrel in flight, kestrel mating, kestrel v jackdaw, kestrels, laying, nature, robert e fuller, robert fuller, wildlife, wildlife art

Id: x1yDrfa2mzs

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Tue May 11 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Firebon3]

The kestrel got scram web but the jackdaw somehow pulled range and warped out

[u/Rubinix]

Holy shit one of my favorite youtubers on the subreddit. This guy's got some seriously good videos.