During the incubation period 57,600 minutes (or 40 days) of
monitoring has been done by volunteers and staff.
The female has done over 50,000 minutes of incubation, which is
87.3% of the time.
The male has done 7 000 minutes of incubation.
The male takes over incubation in the early morning, so she can
have a flight to stretch her wings and have a good preen of her
feathers for a few minutes. While she is feeding and preening, he
will take over incubation, so the nest is hardly ever
unattended.
Over a total period of 54 days, the male brought in 107 fish so he
was catching on average just under 2 fish per day.
Several times the male caught 4 fish on one day, but on other
occasions brought no fish at all.
Most fish have been caught between 6.30 am and 8.00 am with
another peak in the evening.
The male has caught various species of fish including Roach,
Bream, Rainbow Trout, small Perch and even Pike.
The male spent twice as much time feeding as the female. (Total
period: Male 3200 min and female 1600 min.)
The female spent longest feeding on the first day of incubation
(91 minutes) and the male on the May 6th (180 minutes)
When the male brings in a fish, he will often eat the head first
and then bring the rest to the female.
When it is raining, the male lowers its head and will sit and wait
in a so called "vulture position", which means that it will look a
bit like a vulture sticking his long neck out.
During the incubation both adults kept bringing in nest material
including big sticks and grass for the lining.
