Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker: 7. Has an egg been laid?

Earlier posts: 1. Introduction; 2. nesting materials; 3. Nest taking shape; 4. Lining egg chamber; 5. Finishing touches to nest; 6. Pre-egg laying days.

After 3 days of not visiting the newly completed nest, the female Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum) returned to test the comfort of the egg chamber on the morning of 9th January (below). However, they did not spend the night in the nest. This continued for 6 days before the female was noticed entering the nest at 6.30 pm on the 15th January – usually she was nowhere to be seen as early as 6 pm.

Suspecting that she was about to spend the night in the nest, I immediately set up the video cam when she was still inside the nest. She did leave the nest twice for short periods after which she returned to the nest to spend the night. By then it was getting dark but there were no indications that she left the nest thereafter.

In case the video failed to record her leaving in the semi-darkness of the night, I set up the video early next morning at 7.00 am. The video showed her leaving the nest at 7.35 am, to return about 6 minutes later.

It was thus assumed that she laid an egg on 15th January, otherwise she would not have spent the night in the nest. If this assumption was correct, a chick would appear 10-11 days after, on January 25th or 26th.

An edited video clip is provided below.