"Building Chicks"
In the first week of July 2014, I was amazed at how well nature adapts to man's activities. In this case, the chicks seem to prefer scaffolding to tree branches, even though I would walk past several times per day. I suggest the preference is because the steel warms in the sun and its wide diameter makes for stability for the relatively weak limbs of the chicks and equivalent widths would only be found at significant heights in trees which would be an issue for chicks learning to fly. I desensitised the chicks and the visiting mother to my presence for about 2 days as I walked to and from the workshop past the scaffold in a predictable manner and avoiding looking at them. This allowed me to open the window of the kitchen to take the photos having just read how to use the camera for sequential shots and at zoom! I have 4 sequential photos of this scene which animate well. the first shows the chicks waiting, the second the mother coming in to land with two of the three chicks opening their mouths wide, the next shows the mother with her beaks enveloped into the chicks mouth and the last photo (uploaded) shows the mother leaving the chicks.