Off to Sydney last week looking for work, so the Willies were left to their own devices for four days or so. Somehow I don’t think they minded much. Yesterday, late afternoon, I took Archie down to Commonwood Farm to check on progress — and work out the kinks after driving back from the metrop.

It was a breezy, partly cloudy evening with intermittent patches of sunlight. On approaching the nest, I could see one of the parents in a bit of a flap, darting from branch to branch — possibly an attempt to distract us. But I stopped for a few seconds to verify that the other parent was hard at work incubating, all the while pretending not to be there at all. No hatchlings to be seen quite yet — watch this space.

Today we wended our way to where the kingfisher family had nested earlier in the season. Last week I saw a juvenile flitting about and had high hopes of another sighting. And as it turned out, the family put on quite a show: the parents were teaching their fledglings to hunt, and they posed obligingly on a branch — almost as if for coaching sessions.

This was intensely pleasing: having watched the dedicated parents shuttle to and from the nesting hole with lizards and bugs for their hidden progeny, witnessing this next phase of their development provided tangible evidence of the couple’s success.

I really hope the Willies can produce a similar result.