Black-thighed Falconets - Part VI - the parents:fact or fiction

 Whilst celebrating the four chicks fledging successfully, it didn't go unnoticed how the parents were coping throughout this period especially the male parent.

Fact or fiction - interaction between new parents - do avian pairs feel neglect, jealousy; do they made up after what seemed like squabbling?

Fact or fiction - does a new parent subsequent reject its young due to resentment, although temporarily?

The following scenarios attempt to explore these questions:

It was observed on more than one occasion that the male had tried to take over the prey that was caught by the female since the juveniles fledged.

Case 1 

When the female arrived with this bird prey and tried to settle down to de-feather the bird, the male swooped in and tried to pry the catch from her resulting in sharp and noisy exchange between the two, and the male pursuing her till she fled away.

Case 2

It didn't matter if the prey was only a small one, a dragonfly, the male still wanted it.

Case 3

Another episode with a dragonfly prey.

Did these negative interactions between the parents result in the following consequences?

Approximately one hour later following the last case, did the presence of a juvenile with its female parent trigger a subsequent 'aggrievement' in the male?

The parents were together when its juvenile joined them which resulted in the male parent flying off to perch apart.

Seeing that the male had flown off and perched away, the female hurried over, climbing all over its juvenile.

Was she being persuasive and playing up to his mood?!

All's forgiven?

When the female left, the juvenile looked like it tried to cosy up to its male parent, but it seemed to take awhile for the young to get a warm reaction in the form of allopreening from its male parent.

The male parent's warmth didn't seem to last as he eventually turned off again.

Was it due to the young asking for food that he didn't like?  This young was a new fledgling.

However, when this rejection happened again, about a week later, it looked like it was for a different reason, ie, the time had come to get the juvenile to shed dependency.

Some observations and deductions:

1. The female parent continued to be the main one feeding the juveniles.  

2. Most of the time, if the male parent arrived with food, he passed it to a perching juvenile and flew off immediately, unlike the female parent who stayed on beside the juvenile as it ate.