Day 21 — Day N — Fragmented overnight brooding; sustained male provisioning

Through midnight to roughly 05:00, the female is repeatedly on and off the nest. Brooding clips appear at 00:32, 00:52–00:54, 00:57, 00:59, 01:12, 01:19, 01:25–01:35, 01:40, and at scattered intervals thereafter, but unbrooded gaps are frequent throughout the entire overnight window. Chicks are visible in infrared during most of these gaps; at 00:08 and 00:30 a chick is seen gaping with no adult present. At 05:14, five chicks are visible simultaneously in the cup.

The first confirmed feeding of the day is at 06:12: the male is in the cup with five gaping chicks, and a second adult is briefly present in the same frame — both adults at the nest simultaneously. Further male visits occur at 06:33, 06:44 (five chicks), 07:16–07:17, 07:53–07:56, 09:01 (five chicks), 09:30–09:31, 10:18–10:19, 10:45–10:46, and 11:18–11:20. Between visits the female broods, stepping off periodically. She is recorded at the nest with gaping chicks at 09:47 and 12:00. At 12:21–12:22 and 13:03–13:04, both adults are present at the nest at the same time.

Afternoon male visits continue at 13:43–13:44, 14:40–14:43, 15:26, 16:12–16:13, 17:42–17:43, 19:06, and 19:43. The day’s tag distribution includes 43 feeding-tagged clips spread across the full daylight period. Five chicks are visible simultaneously in clips at 06:12, 06:44, 09:01, 09:07, and 19:05.

After ~20:00 the intermittent overnight pattern resumes; the female is repeatedly on and off through the remainder of the recording window.

At 17:27 and 21:29, pale oval shapes are visible in the cup alongside chicks — likely eggshell remnants still in the nest material.

Pipeline: No infrastructure changes this day.

Day’s metrics.

• Clips: 645
• Sunrise / sunset: 05:58 / 20:11 PT
• On-cup share: 6.5%
• Dad visits: 4
• Brooding clips: 35
• Feeding clips: 8
• Chick gapes: 23
• Max chicks visible: 5