Blue Tit Nesting Box May 31st. End of the Story

Well, that's it - all over. The remaining 6 chicks flew the nest this morning and I now have an empty nest. I feel very priviledged to have been able to witness the beginnings of new life.

Empty nest

It's been an amazing few weeks watching the nest box and here is a timetable of the progress from the first visitor to the nest to the last chick leaving:

13th Feb - First visitor visits the box.
15th Feb - Nest building begins.
13th Apr - I first noticed the female roosting in the completed nest overnight.
16th Apr - Mum and Dad 'do the business'
18th Apr - First egg laid
26th Apr - Final total of 9 eggs
9th May - 6 eggs hatched
10th May - 8 eggs hatched (one egg didn't hatch and one chick didn't make it)
30th May - 0730 1st chick flies off
31st May - between 0630 - 0645 the remaining 6 chicks fly the nest and later I noticed one of the parents visiting the empty nest several times, probably wondering where her babies are! Or maybe a second brood may be raised, I believe that sometimes happens. Watch this space ....

I just managed to video (with my camera) the last chick flying off - but be warned - if you blink you will miss it. It all happened very quickly and I wasn't able to follow it. It flew across my lawn into the hedge at the back of my garden.

Good luck little birds, have a long and happy life.

Blue Tit Nesting Box 30th May

One chick fledged around 0720 this morning, leaving 6 in the nest. It flew across my patio and landed on my roof. I hope it is ok and was not a magpie's breakfast. I will never know. It is now nearly 3 hours later and no more have gone. The wind picked up shortly after the one left so maybe that is why they are not going, I don't know. I could do with a crystal as I am glued to the computer just in case ...

6 left.

Here you can see a chick looking out and pondering the big world outside

and here is mum or dad paying a visit. You can just see a chick inside the hole.

You can tell by this video that the chicks are very active and obviously ready to fly the nest. They seem to be preening themselves a lot, obviously preparing their feathers for flying. Mum or dad are still visiting with food and doing 'toilet duty'.

This video was taken just before the first chick left.

26th May

Update on the nest in the peg bag in the garage. I peeped in very carefully this morning and a robin was sitting on the eggs. Oh well, my car will not be garaged for the next few weeks!

Tit Box 25th May

There has been another development today. Not only are the chicks much more active but they have now found that they have got voices! I heard them chirping for the first time today and you can hear them on this video. And if you watch carefully you will see one of the chicks go 'arse-up' so 'mum' can catch the poo-pod and take it out of the nest. Clever stuff.

Sorry you can't see the videos if you are looking on Facebook, for some reason they are not uploaded. You'll have to go to the blog site.

Tit Box 24th May

It's been a while since I posted any titbox news, mainly because it has been the usual routine of the parents feeding and cleaning out the nest

I have just been away for 3 days, and came home to a huge change. The chicks have left their 'cup' nest in the middle of the box and are now very mobile and moving around the floor of the nest. They now have lots of downy feathers and stretch and flap their wings occasionally. They are looking like proper little birds now.

Here is a video of the chicks grooming themselves. I suspect there are probably a lot of fleas in the nest worrying them. Also, it is very hot today which doesn't help. You can see 'mum' top left of the screen doing some housework before she leaves to go on another food sortie.

On the same bird subject, this morning I discovered a birds nest in my peg bag which hangs on the wall in my garage. It must have been built and eggs laid very quickly as it is not that long ago that I used the pegs to hang out washing. I suspect it has been abandoned as I haven't seen any birds going in through the window today. I have had robins nesting the the garage several times and although I am not good at recognising bird's eggs, I suspect it must be robins. Here are 2 photos, one looking down into the bag to see the nest, and the other showing the location in my garage. I expect I scared the parent(s) away when I unsuspectingly went into the garage to get my car out or when I took the bag to the clothes line. Luckily I have another stock of pegs so I will leave the bag untouched and leave the car in the drive just in case they come back.

Tit Box 13th May

Here is a pic of Mum feeding her babies.
I think there are 8 chicks, with one egg not hatching, but it is diffucult to see as they are always wriggling around. Also, there seems to be one chick that is being ignored. Sadly it may not survive - who knows.

At one stage during a feeding routine this morning a large jay landed on the nestbox and Mum immediately stopped feeding and sat on the birds as if to protect them. She stayed there for quite a while and Dad came in with food which he passed to Mum who then fed her babies.

It is all fascinating viewing.

And here is a video of the action

Tit Box May 10th 2010

It is difficult to see, but I think 2 more eggs are hatched,
leaving just one.

And here is a short vidio of the babies in the nest.
They seem to be all mouth!