00:00Okay, so it's been a couple of days since I was last up here on the last video at the
00:12Blackstalk's nest and I've just made the 45-minute hike up.
00:19I'm not in the shooting place yet, I've just stopped on the rise above and where I normally get a
00:27view down into the nest through the foliage, but thankfully, in a way, the foliage has now grown quite thick,
00:38even in the last couple of days,
00:41and where I normally could see the nest from this point and see if there's anything on it before descending
00:48to the location.
00:53Today, I can't tell if there's anything on it.
00:56I'll swing the camera around briefly so you can actually see what I'm seeing.
01:04So, as you can see, it's all just thick foliage.
01:09So, the nest is through there, but I can't actually see it now.
01:20So, I'm going to make my way down really slowly, really carefully.
01:25If there is one of the birds on the nest, I might back off.
01:33If I see that she's getting or he's getting too nervous with the noise that I will inevitably make trying
01:41to get down.
01:42There's so many dried leaves and twigs and things that I'm going to rustle and snap on the way down.
01:49So, okay, so hopefully I'll be able to get to the spot and set up the blind and the camera,
01:56in which case I shall speak to you from there.
02:03So, incredibly enough, she was on the nest when I arrived and I didn't see her until I got quite
02:12low down, so I was already committed.
02:16And I kept my eye on her the whole time, and she seemed completely unfazed by my presence.
02:22So much so that I haven't even put up the blind, because that would have created extra disturbance for her.
02:31So, I didn't even bother doing that, but she sat quite calmly.
02:38See if I can swing you around to see what I'm looking at.
02:52She's over there somewhere.
03:00It's just an absolute beautiful scene.
03:04And the trees, the big plain trees that they've nested in are just absolutely stunning.
03:15And it just looks gorgeous.
03:17It's just a beautiful image.
03:20So, I'm going to camp out here for a while.
03:26And wait for the mail to return.
03:29So, hopefully, he'll return.
03:32Either with food or sticks for her.
03:35In time.
03:40I don't know if you can pick it up on this microphone.
03:43There's something very heavy-footed again down here.
04:04Hopefully, it'll come into view, and I can get a shot of it as well.
04:11Whatever it might be.
04:12See?
04:15Fingers crossed for a deer.
04:31There's still no sign of whatever it was making the noise down there.
04:35In the meantime, I thought, maybe I should put the scrim up if I can.
04:40So, I did, just in case the mail takes offense to me, when he arrives.
04:47The female seems totally, totally cool with my presence here.
04:54Okay, so, frustratingly, the mail flew back, just appeared out of nowhere, totally silently.
05:05Just suddenly, he was on the list.
05:06So, I didn't have any chance to record him arriving.
05:10And no sooner did he arrive, and I think they switched places, basically.
05:16The female left immediately, and there was no greeting or any kind of display, like the
05:24White Stalks do.
05:26Usually, when one of them comes back to the nest, the White Stalks, they have, like, a bill
05:32clapping and greeting.
05:34Anyway, these guys, they don't seem to do that at all, so that's interesting.
05:39Anyway, so she left immediately.
05:42I did record that.
05:45And now he's just still on the nest on his own.
05:49I'm guessing, again, there's still no eggs.
05:54Because if there were, I'm assuming that he would be sitting on them, rather than standing
05:59on the nest while she's away.
06:07Anyway, so now I wait for the female to come back again.
06:10Probably she's gone to have a feed.
06:15And whatever is in the undergrowth is still rooting about there.
06:21So, I haven't had a chance to see what it is at all.
06:24I can just hear it rooting around.
06:27And the mosquitoes are going again.
06:33Okay, so, hopefully, I've got two hours of battery left.
06:38It is now.
06:42Five o'clock, just gone.
06:45I've got two hours of battery time left.
06:49In three hours, sun goes down anyway.
06:53She's been gone for about 90 minutes now.
06:58And the male hasn't moved a muscle.
07:02He's just been stood in the same position for the whole time.
07:07I envy him that ability, because I am so uncomfortable after five hours sitting here.
07:18I have less than an hour's battery left on the camera.
07:24And probably less than an hour's flight, less than an hour left of light as well.
07:37So, this gorge is already in shadow, pretty much.
07:43Just at the top of the tree is here.
07:46That side where the stalk is is in shadow completely.
07:52So, it looks like I'm going to have to try again.
07:55I'm going to wait until the battery dies on the camera, and then I'll call it quits.
08:02And pick up again either tomorrow or the next day.
08:08Make an early start of it.
08:10So, I shall see you then.
08:18So, good morning.
08:20It's about 6.30.
08:24Sunrise is about 7am.
08:27I've got a 35-40 minute hike up the mountain to the stalks.
08:34So, I should be there for about sunrise.
08:36But, because it's actually in a quite a deep ravine, the tree, where they're nesting,
08:44the sun doesn't actually hit inside the ravine until about 8.30, 9 o'clock, something like that.
08:52So, I won't have enough light to film anyway for a while.
08:57But I thought I'd do this little piece to camera before going up there and settling in at the location.
09:04So, it's been 5 or 6 days since I was up there.
09:08And, um, I thought I'd give them a bit of a break from my presence there.
09:14Um, and let them settle down and lay their eggs and what have you.
09:18Um, and basically, after struggling on the last couple of occasions to get the footage that I was expecting to
09:28get,
09:29I thought I should actually do some, some more research on the black stalks in particular,
09:35which is something I should have done right at the beginning, before even starting the project,
09:41uh, rather than going on the assumption that their behavior would be the same as the white stalks.
09:46Um, and, uh, it, I was basically completely wrong.
09:51Um, because their behavior is not like the white stalks.
09:55And where the white stalks, uh, when they greet each other,
10:00they do the whole bowing of the heads and bill clapping and that sort of thing,
10:05uh, and all the nuzzling that goes on,
10:07and the very regular mating, um, the black stalks are completely different.
10:14They don't do any of that.
10:16Their courtship, um, according to the paper that I found,
10:21um, is, um, the main part of their courtship, that is,
10:26is actually on the wing.
10:28And they do this, uh, synchronized flying.
10:31And when I read that in the article, um,
10:36it actually reminded me that a couple of years ago when I was,
10:39I think I was filming the jackals, uh, down by the lake,
10:44and a couple of black stalks flew past,
10:48um, and were doing this synchronized flying.
10:51And I had completely forgotten about that footage.
10:54Um, so I'm gonna see if I can dig that out and show it to you now.
11:00Um, so, um, and it's a beautiful thing to, uh, to see, actually,
11:05to see them flying like that.
11:07Anyhow, um, that being the case,
11:11uh, I've been trying to film something that, uh, just doesn't happen,
11:15uh, which is the courtship on the nest.
11:18Um, it is very, very subtle, um,
11:22and, um, the mating is not so frequent as the white stalks.
11:26So, um, I'm unlikely to actually get that.
11:30So, what I thought I would do is I would, um,
11:33come back up,
11:34see what kind of interaction I might be able to get with the pair.
11:41Um, and then leave them to it, basically,
11:44until, uh, until I'm back again from the UK.
11:47So, I leave at the end of the month, um,
11:50and I'll be back mid to late June
11:53when the chicks will be pretty well developed.
11:56They have a 32-day, approximately, um, incubation period,
12:03which means they'll hatch, uh, after I've left for the UK.
12:08Um, and by the time I return,
12:10they'll be six to eight weeks on in their development.
12:13So, I'll pick up the story there.
12:17And in the meantime,
12:18I'll try and get some more, uh, B-roll
12:21and, uh, scene environmental shots,
12:25that sort of thing, to set the scene.
12:27So, that's where I'm at.
12:29I'm gonna head up now to the nest,
12:31and, um, I shall catch up with you there.
12:35Okay, so I managed to get down here,
12:38um, without disturbing the female of the nest.
12:42So, she's sat there quite comfortably.
12:46I'm assuming it's the female.
12:47Um, so, uh, I just have to wait now for the, um,
12:53the male to come back
12:55and see what shots I can get of that.
12:57As you can probably tell, it's still quite dark.
13:00Um, so, the sun,
13:04it's gone past sunrise.
13:07But, like I said,
13:08this is a fairly deep, uh, gully, gorge, ravine,
13:12whatever you want to call it.
13:14And, um,
13:16it takes a bit of time for the light
13:17to actually, uh, get down into here.
13:21So, it's been about half an hour
13:24since I arrived.
13:28And I have a feeling it was the male
13:30that was sat on the nest.
13:33Because, uh, without warning,
13:36he got up,
13:37flew to another branch near me,
13:41sat there for a second or two
13:43and then flew off
13:45and then two minutes later flew back.
13:48And now he's stood on, uh,
13:51one of the limbs of the tree above the nest.
13:54Uh, but he's completely hidden from view
13:57from another tree.
14:00Uh, so I can only see
14:01a little bit of his bill poking out.
14:05And, um,
14:06he's just been stood there now,
14:09not, uh, not sitting on the nest.
14:11Which makes me wonder again
14:13if there's any eggs actually
14:15on the nest already
14:16because he's just stood above it.
14:19So, it's just gone nine o'clock.
14:21Which means I've been here for two hours.
14:24And there's absolutely no movement.
14:28Except for the, um,
14:30the bird that's there,
14:31whether it's the male or female,
14:33uh, has just poked its head
14:35around the limb
14:36that was, uh, hiding him from my view.
14:40So, I can just,
14:41I can just see his head.
14:43But, uh, his partner is yet to, uh,
14:47yet to appear.
14:48And the light is now
14:49starting to get better as well.
14:51It's starting to, um,
14:54creep down the other slide
14:55and, uh, fill the, uh,
14:57the little gorge here
14:59with some light,
14:59which is nice.
15:04All I need is for the, uh,
15:05for the partner to arrive.
15:09Okay, so it's now gone ten o'clock.
15:13Which means three hours
15:15I've been here
15:16and no sign of the partner.
15:21And the other one
15:22is still patched up.
15:24Eye up on that limb.
15:27No movement at all.
15:32The only thing I've seen or heard
15:34is, um,
15:36a deer barking
15:37behind the tree line here.
15:45So,
15:47quick tip for you
15:50is whenever you're
15:52doing something else,
15:53like I am now
15:54talking to camera,
15:55pouring a cup of tea
15:57from your flask.
16:01Anything
16:01that you might be doing.
16:03Or are you gonna,
16:04just in a lapse
16:05of concentration?
16:08No,
16:09it's just arriving.
16:14I was going to say
16:15just keep the camera running.
16:17Rolling.
16:25That's them
16:26greeting each other.
16:28And the male
16:28just eating down.
16:48And it's gone.
16:55the female is just
16:57tidying up the nest I think.
17:18And the number
17:24So there was just a little bit of interaction between them, and she's now made herself
17:30comfortable in the nest.
17:31I can't see her head, just the tail end of her, sort of tucked herself into the side
17:37of the nest.
17:39There's too many sticks and branches in the way, let's see if I can zoom in on her face
17:47a little bit.
17:54Such beautiful birds.
18:00So I'm assuming now he's going to be gone for a few hours himself, which puts me in a
18:08quandary as to whether I should stick around and wait for him to come back.
18:14I hope that there's more interaction that I can record.
18:19Okay, so while she's sat quietly on the nest and the mail is gone, I'm going to just hang
18:28around for a little bit longer to see, just in case it comes back earlier than expected.
18:37But otherwise, I think I'm going to wrap up this video here.
18:42I'll spend the next few days in the forests around here, trying to get some more bee roll
18:50for the final edit, just to make it a little bit more of a richer edit.
18:56Birds, bees, trees, just the forest surrounds, maybe some drawing footage as well.
19:03So hopefully I'll bring you along on that trip as well.
19:09And I might also try and catch them down on the lake feeding, although it is a bit of a
19:16trying
19:17to find a needle in a haystack because there's not many of these birds around.
19:22And the lake is a very large area.
19:31So that being the case, thank you so much for watching, and I shall catch you again in the
19:40next one.
19:40Bye!
19:41Bye!
19:42Bye!
19:43Bye!
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