DRENCHED

I was at the nest from 5:30-6:30PM checking on my feathered friends. Ruby was in the nest calmly sitting and tending to her chicks which was nice to see. Those chicks are getting huge! I wasn't sure if they were adults or chicks looking at their size and change in colors. But those white heads give it away. From 5:30 to 6:15 Ruby sat with her impatient chicks while waiting for dinner. There was much crying and looking over the edge from the two biggest, but Ruby stayed patient. Sometimes they would all huddle in the corner near the window and peck at something, poor pickings I quess. At 6:15 Buzz came by and landed on the right edge of the roof with talons empty. He was DRENCHED and looked ratty and small, half the size of his chicks! As buzz sat on the edge of the roof, Ruby flew out of the nest and landed on a girder by the windows. She stared at her self for 5 minutes while Buzz sat on the roof. After he took off she paced the length of the right girder several times following her reflection on the window. She did intentionally bump her wing several times and her beak once at her reflection, but it looked more gentle, no slamming and falling. Buzz returned at 6:25 with a small rodent, a mouse perhaps. He brought it to the left corner of the roof and Ruby followed sitting with him and the mouse. They sat together, she made a sound and it looked like they were having "a moment". After about 5 minutes, he left and she continued to stay on the roof with the dead mouse for another 5 minutes. She then brought the mouse into the nest. I was happy to be have been able to see what I came to see. All 5 look well and thriving. I just wished that I had seen a run away umbrella land on the pinnacle of 185 to help keep these guys dry, but no suck luck! Hildy