Vultures all over the world

[Marbzy]

And so la hembra continues to brave the elements:


The day's last vuelta?


As flat as a flounder:


Good night!

[Marbzy]

15 April

The day started with la hembra giving a few people a scare:


An odd kind of scare:


She kept almost completely motionless for at least well over 3 hours:

[Marbzy]

Alarm bells were ringing in the YT chat (though one commentator did observe that very slight movements of the female's head could be seen from time to time) when this happened:


She finally stood up and went through the complete routine of "get up, examine the egg, stretch, exercise, reverse, poop, return, go around the egg the circles, roll the egg, settle":


... exercise, reverse...:

[Marbzy]

... walk around the egg...:


... resume incubation:


More exercise followed half an hour later:

[Marbzy]

The gentle giant with the egg right between her feet:


Then came the rain:


And an opportunity to dry the wings:

[Marbzy]

Then came the rain again:


And it came to pass...:


... that nothing else came to pass*.


The day ended (i.e. the cam went to sleep - there's no night vision) at 20:38 with la hembra in exactly the same position as above.

* V. Ernest Cox. "Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot." In: How to Become Ridiculously Well-read in One Evening. Compiled and edited by E.O. Parrott. Penguin Books, 1986, p. 26.**

** (Almost) two birds in one entry. Not bad.

[Marbzy]

16 April

In the morning, the lady is still in charge:


Change is in the air:


Full frontal nudity?

[Marbzy]

Up jumps la hembra:


And she's gone:


Three and a half minutes later:

[Marbzy]

Finally, a vulture flies into view:


And it's la hembra (inhabiting the bottom left corner of the image):


She jumps back into the nest:

[Marbzy]

Back to incubating:


But this time change is really in the air:


The male can still be identified by the white stains on the left wing:

[Marbzy]

El macho asks la hembra to make some room for him:


And the changeover is completed:


The female leaps onto a branch:

[Marbzy]

She strikes a one-legged pose:


And she's off to roam the airspace over the sierra:


El macho gets down to incubating in the blink of an eye:

[Marbzy]

The day was very windy all over Europe, from Estonia to Spain:


A facemask for el macho?


Playing with plastic?

[Marbzy]

Next, rain swept across Sierra de Guadarrama one more time:


Just in case anyone was beginning to think incubation was fun:


Let's hope the elements show some mercy for el macho tomorrow.

[Marbzy]

17 April

Another windy day begins with el macho dozing flat on el huevo:


He raises his eyes to the sky:


Another routine break from incubation duty is about to end - el macho uses his beak to roll the egg back a little:

[Marbzy]

He pushes el huevo deeper under himself:


That plastic bag gets a little in his way as el macho is about to cover the egg again:


So he grabs the plastic with his beak and moves it to his left:

[Marbzy]

The tail goes up!


An intruder's arrival induces the now familiar reaction from el macho:


They keep eyeing each other but do not come to blows:

[Marbzy]

El macho does not offer tea or biscuits and the intruder moves off after 20 minutes:


Two hours later the tail goes up again:


The visitor is already hovering over the nest. El macho is seriously irritated and nearly treads on the egg:

[Marbzy]

He's got to really watch his feet!


What? More company?


El macho has the sense to step away from the egg as he flaps his wings in anger a few times:

[Marbzy]

There's more furious flapping even when is sitting down to protect the egg with his body:


The intruders seem to be looking at our male with interest and envy:


They finally remember that they have other business to attend to: