Vultures all over the world

[Marbzy]

He comes back carrying another twig:


The female grabs the twig, nearly making the male, who is climbing down into the nest, lose balance:


Construction work follows as well as deliberation:

[Marbzy]

Finally, the male's off for good:


A vuelta de huevo to end the day:

[Marbzy]

5 April

La hembra over el huevo:


The moment my heart froze - first, a stranger approaches the nest, causing the female to get up (see above); then, the visitor lands close to the nest, and the female steps on the egg


And then another vagrant lands next to the nest:

[Marbzy]

The lady takes another step with unprecedented care:


So this is why these visits by non-breeding birds can be so dangerous...


The visitors come together for some secret talks:

[Marbzy]

They both leave a minute later in the space of five seconds:


El macho then arrived just before 11:11, carrying a stick. Construction work followed. After a minute the lady got up, and she took off at 11:12:24.

Then she came back with a stick of her own:


She told the male to get up:

[Marbzy]

The male got the marching orders:


And he left:


Only to come back after two minutes:

[Marbzy]

Just look, la hembra, someone is trying to make sense of our behaviour. Let's have some fun


And the male left again:


Four minutes later, he was back with another twig

[Marbzy]

And he got his female to move:


Onto the branch:


Careful...

[Marbzy]

Away flew la hembra:


Only to return five minutes later with a golden dead pine branch:


Some decoration work followed and now el macho rose:

[Marbzy]

The wife posed for photographers with the golden needles around her feet:


And the male packed his bags:


Three and a half hours later:

[Marbzy]

The wife took five minutes to get up and then took to the wing:


El macho climbed down to the nest:


The female came back:

[Marbzy]

Thankfully, the decided they'd had enough:


And the female departed:


El macho over el huevo:


But for the scare at 10:49:35, a fairly ordinary day, wasn't it?

[Marbzy]

6 April

A wet and foggy morning:


The male gets up and takes a stroll:


And he pops off to the bathroom:

[Marbzy]

The male inspects the egg:


The weather improves in the afternoon:


One wing goes out:

[Marbzy]

And the wing stays there...


Two minutes and it's still there:


He's a bit restless, possibly looking forward to a shift handover:

[Marbzy]

He's up one more time:


Enter la hembra:


Exit el macho:

[Marbzy]

La hembra rolls the egg:


El macho supplies a twig:


Kisses:

[Marbzy]

The legitimate male leaves:


A curious encounter occurred at 17:40. Before the intruder could be seen, the incubating female braced herself for his visit:


The visitor's feet can now be seen close to the top edge of the picture (don't be misled by the yellow band - la hembra would keep calm if this was el macho):

[Marbzy]

The intruder descends into the nest, just to the left of the female:


Put off by the female's attitude, the visitor just bounces off the rim of the nest... :


... and is gone:

[Marbzy]

El macho came back and stayed with la hembra from 19:01 till 19:24.

He returned again at 20:03...:


... with a very cumbersome branch:


He finally found a way to deliver the branch into the nest: