24 April, 2004
Day 5
The oldest chick is now able to "walk". We watched it take a few steps this morning while holding up its head. The older one also seems to be pushing the younger (one day!) out to the edges of the nest box with its head. These birds don't even have their eyes open yet! Speaking of which, it looks like there is a membrane over their eyes. We presume that will dry up and fall off at some point. For now we guess either the eyes are not developed enough yet and/or the risk of accidental damage is too great to rely only on eyelids. The older chick has very different eyes than the younger. we hope this is only colouration and not some problem with development. Both chicks have full crops so we guess feeding is going well.
Now that there are no more eggs in the nest and things seem to be going well mom (Kiwi) is showing a bit more of her former behaviour. She comes out of the nest for longer intervals although she is still not out frequently.