The
starling which had been hovering opposite the entrance, then backed off and
flew onto the roof of the box again.
Babe
continued to display and you can see that her beak is open, so I presume she
is making a bit of a racket too - presumably calling for reinforcements from
Ferdinand (we have decided to call the male Ferdinand - have you noticed
that he has lost his tail?)
By
this time the starling is on the roof and peering aggressively into the box
from above.
Babe
still has her guard up and her beak open!
There
is still no sign of Ferdinand, but one senses that the starling is losing
interest in this battle. I wonder if it would have been different if
there were young chicks in the nest box?
I think he flies off at this point as this is the last shot of him around the box.
Twelve
seconds later, Babe is starting to relax again. She clearly feels that
the threat has passed.
Whether
Ferdinand had anything to do with it or not, I do not know but it is nearly
a minute later that he appears in any of the pictures.
"Are you alright dear?" - stupid bird!
"A
fine lot of help you were!"
Of
course we can never know what actually passed between them ...
...
but for the rest of the day, Ferdinand was strangely attentive, and hung around
the box quite a lot whether Babe was inside it or not!