Baby Blue Tits Diary 2003

Last year we put up a new bird box for the resident blue tits in our garden complete with internal camera.
This year they have actually started to nest in it - see the pictures below!

3rd April:

This was the first time we had switched on the camera for a couple of weeks, as we hadn't seen the blue tits around the nest for a while, and had almost given up hope of them nesting this year.

How surprised were we to find all this nesting material in the box! The top of the picture is the front of the bird box, so it looks like the bird is just dumping the material into the box as it arrives.

 

4th April:

Switched the camera on this morning, to find even more nesting material in the box! Looks like they have been very busy!

We saw a blue tit making visits throughout the day, bringing in more material and compacting it down. It is now becoming clear where the eggs will be laid, in the bottom left hand corner of this picture, away from the entrance hole.

 

5th April:

Managed to get some video of the blue tit today, fighting with a piece of nesting material which was funny!

Click here to view the video (1.9MB, MPEG-1, duration 34 seconds)

When we viewed the camera later in the day, that particular piece of material had gone!..

 

7th April:

More video of one of the blue tits (there are definitely two hanging around the nest!)

This time the blue tit was more nervous, jumping up to have a look outside the box, before continuing with compacting down the nest material.

Click here to view the video (1MB, MPEG-1, duration 17 seconds)

 

8th April:

The bird that is doing all the nest building has started to bring in softer, more fluffier material, although in this video clip it takes the first piece back out of the box when it leaves.

Click here to view the video (1.4MB, MPEG-1, duration 23 seconds)

 

9th April:

The shortest video clips so far.

One bird had just entered the nest, presumably the female, after bringing in material. The male arrives at the box and enters with an insect in its mouth. The female makes a quiet screeching noise as if to say 'this is my territory' or perhaps to say 'I would like to have that'. The male offers the insect to the female which she takes and then he leaves immediately.

We think this is probably some form of token gesture to the female to show her that he is not hostile and that when the time comes for her to sit on the eggs to incubate them he will bring her food.

Click here to view the video (0.9MB, MPEG-1, duration 15 seconds)

 

12th April:

There hasn't been a great deal of activity following the snow fall on Thursday morning (10th April) and although the snow didn't settle it has felt much colder.

This image was taken at 20:30 hrs in complete darkness and graphically enhanced.

 

 

17th April:

It's very quiet around the bird box at the moment. This image taken at 18:30 hrs looks little different to the one taken five days ago. We have hardly seen the birds around the box or the garden. We know the birds are in the neighbourhood because we can hear their distinctive calls. Since the 12th the weather has changed and become much warmer with temperatures reaching as high as 25 degrees Centigrade.

Perhaps all the nest building is done and the birds are simply waiting for nature to take its course. Or maybe the birds have abandoned the nest? We will have to wait and see...

 

22nd April:

We have finally found out what has happened to the birds. They have abandoned the bird box in favour of a new home about 2 metres away in the roof of our out-house. This photograph shows one of the birds poised above the entrance to their new nest.

So why did they abandon the bird box? Well we can only guess that the pressure of living a high profile media lifestyle simply became too much for them in the end.

All that remains for us to do is to wish them the best of luck with the new family and leave them in peace.

 

Links:

Jeremy Pidgeon's wildlife website, includes 2003 bird box cameras and plenty of photos: http://www.gardenwildlife.co.uk/

Blue Tits Diary 2003 at Daviv's website: http://www.daviv.com/bird_box_diary_2003.htm

Or you can read other stories about our baby blue tits from 2000 and also 2002.