10 June 2007: Finally the female stops brooding
After nearly 2 months of brooding, the female has given up. The young should have hatched about 13 days after the start of brooding, so she has gone on in vain for over 6 weeks. The instincts are primitive, if there are eggs, brood, if there are young, feed. She has no notion of how long brooding should take, she carries on regardless. It is unclear what triggered her to stop now, the eggs still look the same as always. Pity it had to end this way, hopefully next year will be more normal, and there will be a normal brood.