The strange
coughing sound that came from the darkened nest box last night was
something that I had not heard for two years. It is the sound that June
repeats at five second intervals while she is laying an egg! The nesting
season had started at last and Ward responded by delivering two meals to
the nest box in the next two hours. He announced his arrivals with his
monkey call and June responded with loud squeals as she accepted his
deliveries. June is shown here as she changes her incubating position by
sticking her tail up in the air and doing one of her famous pirouettes. 
June
spent most of her day incubating the egg as she is seen doing here while
dozing in the sun. She seemed quite patient throughout the day, but left
abruptly at 5pm after calling for Ward for several minutes and getting no
response. The egg went unincubated until she returned five hours later.
Ward stopped by with a meal just five minutes after her return and she
squealed and accepted it with her usual enthusiasm. I'm a bit concerned
about the egg being left alone for so long in this cool weather, but she
did the same thing with her first egg in 1998. It appears to take more
than one egg to hold her attention.