Day 22 — High feeding rate by both parents; 6 chicks counted in one evening clip

Overnight, the female alternated rapidly between sitting on the cup and brief absences, with chicks visible in uncovered clips throughout. The cycling — a brooding clip followed within a minute or two by an empty-cup clip with chicks — persisted from midnight through roughly 05:30, consistent with the female shifting position and the motion trigger also firing on chick movement. Gaping chicks were recorded as early as 00:22 and again at 03:22.

First daytime feeding clip was at 06:07, female in the cup, chicks gaping. The male made his first confirmed appearance at 06:33, identified by red plumage. Both adults were making feeding runs through the morning: male documented at 07:00 (four chicks with open red-lined mouths), 07:50, 08:23, and 08:45 in two consecutive clips (four chicks each). The female brooded between visits and also fed directly.

Feeding frequency was comparable through midday. Male visits confirmed at 10:02, 10:34, 11:34–11:35 (four chicks), 12:14, and 12:55 (five chicks counted). Female feeding at 12:35 and 12:58. At 15:37, both adults were present at the nest simultaneously across two consecutive clips — the only confirmed dual-adult presence of the day.

Afternoon male visits at 13:33, 14:20 (five chicks gaping), 14:21, 15:02, 17:23 (five chicks), and 18:20–18:22. The 18:20 clip is tagged chicks_visible=6, with the following two clips at 5 each. Six would exceed the confirmed clutch of five; likely a counting artifact given the pile of chicks and camera angle, but it is the highest single-clip count recorded to date.

After approximately 20:29, the female settled into sustained nighttime brooding.

Pipeline: No infrastructure changes this day.

Day’s metrics.

• Clips: 508
• Sunrise / sunset: 05:57 / 20:12 PT
• On-cup share: 9.4%
• Dad visits: 0
• Brooding clips: 52
• Feeding clips: 0
• Chick gapes: 6
• Max chicks visible: 3