Giulian novel Stories –

Family Life for most birds is brief, but busy. After the female bird has mated she lays her eggs, usually in a nest. The baby birds, or chicks, do not grow inside her because this would make her far too heavy to fly. When they hatch, the chicks eat a lot, grow bigger and bigger, and then, as soon as they can fly, they leave home for ever. We are wondering what’s inside an egg. All bird eggs have the same things inside them: a growing baby bird which feeds on a yellow yolk, and a watery egg white which cushions the chick from knocks. Woodpeckers and warblers are ready to hatch in 11 days but Royal albatrosses take more than 11 weeks.

There is what we call Baby Sitting wherein eggs must be incubated or kept warm, otherwise the baby birds inside will die. The parents do this by sitting on them. On the other hand getting out of an egg is called hatching. This way the chick taps at the tough shell until it is free. This can take hours or even days. In addition when the baby birds nearly grown up and have left home they are called fledglings. Many are eaten by cats and hawks, but some from each nest survive and have families of their own.