Fledging

 The chicks fledged early on Monday 24th. May - 3 weeks to the day since hatching. They were all in, with Mum, late on Sunday night. 

There was only one still in the nestbox when I got up at 6.20am. on Monday and the parents (well Daddy actually) was coming in very frequently with food, and often reaching down from the hole as if to encourage the youngster upwards. Baby GT came up to the hole a few times, looking out and flexing its wings, before the final exit.

I noticed as it went it dropped one last poo packet in the nest. Ten minutes later the packet had gone. I hadn’t been watching but one of the parents must have come back to check - that all the babies had left? or to clean up? Amazing.

So that’s it! They’ve gone. We are really thrilled that this camera/nestbox experiment was so successful, the first time we’d ever tried.

Come on love! Time to go!

Wing flexion - a strange rhythmical movement that I hadn’t seen before

The crowded nestbox on the day before fledging

The babies are getting ready to go!

 Didn’t get round to updating at two weeks..... the chicks gradually became darker and fluffier as their feathers emerged. They had much better control of their heads and were able to peck, preen and scratch themselves!

  In the last 3 or 4 days they have become noisy, and yesterday and today (17/18 days since hatching) they are often standing on the rim of the nest and trying out their wings.

Lots of fluttering when they hear the parents coming in - you can see a chick’s wing extended in the picture below. We only get colour when it’s bright outside and the sun shines.

I really hope they don’t fledge today as the weather is dreadful, driving rain and gale force wind.

Baby Great tits are a week old

 The babies are a week old today. There are 4 - for several days I was not sure whether there were 4 or 5 (there were 5 eggs).  I don’t know what happened to the 5th. egg - maybe it was infertile and didn’t hatch. Maybe the parents broke it - they would have eaten shell and contents, I think. Or maybe the chick died and has been thrown out - the parents are fastidious about keeping the nest clean and are always searching around for any debris.

The four babies are growing so fast and now look very slightly fluffy, not just skin. Mum and Dad are working hard and at the moment there are a great many long black flies being brought for the chicks. Sometimes the parent will give the fly an extra shove down the chick’s throat if it seems to be struggling, and I have also seen them pick the morsel out and re-present it.

Chicks!

 On Monday morning, 3rd. May, Mr. GT was seen exiting the box - we had never seen him inside before. Then Mrs. GT was seen holding a piece of shell, and when she moved we could see that there were 3 chicks hatched! So exciting!  

The weather outside was dreadful all day - high winds and driving rain. Mr. GT came regularly with food and during the day another egg hatched. The chicks were never left for long; Mrs. GT seemed to find it harder to get comfortable and fidgeted more than ever. We saw her searching in the bottom of the nest for pieces of eggshell, all of which she ate.

Today the last egg has gone, presumably hatched, and I think I can see 5 chicks but have not seen all the beaks open at once yet. Both parents are feeding the chicks and taking it in turns to sit on them. 

Sometimes when Mrs. is sitting, Mr. comes in with food and gives it to her and she then gives it to a chick.

The food is often the little green caterpillars from the oak trees.

Not long now until hatching

 I am not sure how long, but I think the earliest an egg will hatch might be tomorrow, 2nd. May. Incubation time is 13 days but Mrs. GT’s sitting was erratic in the first few days so I’m not sure when to count from.

However she sits down tight now, occasionally pulling the nest around her and sometimes diving down to move the eggs around. She only leaves for a couple of minutes at a time.

Mr. GT comes with food. I have tried to get a photo; this (below) is the best so far. He puts his head in and she reaches up to take the offering.

A couple of weeks ago I stopped replenishing the seed and peanut feeders. I was so worried at seeing the sparrowhawk hiding around and was sure it would have been aware that small birds congregate there.  The weather has been good and I think there is a lot of insect food available, so I am trusting that our Great tits will manage.

Mrs GT is sitting on five eggs

 We didn’t see any eggs until the 19th. April because she covered them every time she left the nest. She laid five over the course of a week, and on the couple of days after we first saw them she was out of the nest for quite long periods of time. She has gradually been sitting for longer, going out less and now the eggs are never covered when she leaves.

While she sits she is sometimes very low in the nest, fluffed up, head under her wing or in her back feathers, apparently sleeping. Sometimes she sits a bit higher and pecks and pulls the nest material around her, and jiggles the eggs around underneath herself.  She almost turns upside down when inspecting them and rearranging.  I have seen her bring in additional nest material.

Mr. GT sits in the oak tree keeping watch, and sings very often. He may be feeding her when she comes out - we have still not seen him in the nestbox.

Five eggs is not many for a Great Tit, but that seems to be all - just as well, for the rearing. Maybe she is a young bird, this may be her first brood.

Mrs GT just returning to her nest

Re-arranging the eggs

1st night in her new home

 Mrs GT has settled down for the night. She had been in and out all day, poking and prodding and making turning and pushing movements so as to create a nice hollow in the centre.  By dusk it was obvious that she intended to sleep there, so I imagine that the egg-laying will begin tomorrow.

Exciting!

Mrs GT putting the finishing touches to the nest

 Mrs. GT is now adding soft stuff to her nest. Last weekend she used the lockdown haircut trimmings that I left out! I also cut some pink wool very short (so as not to entangle the chicks, or parents). Some days this past week she has not made many visits, but on other days she’s in and out all morning, less in the afternoon. She doesn’t do the round and round wing fluttering now, more poking and prodding. 

We still haven’t seen Mr. GT in there.

There now seems to be some sheep’s wool in the nest, and the thin curly strands are the pink wool that I left outside.

Moving in!! Great tits taking up residence!

 We are very excited that a pair of Great Tits are going to use the camera nestbox. I had seen her, pecking around the hole and putting her head in.  The hole was not big enough for a Great Tit - it had been made for Blue Tits. 

A pair of blue tits had settled on the other box which is about 15 yards away from this box, but doesn’t have a camera. My perception of the situation was that no other blue tits would nest so near. Therefore, the hole at the camera box needed to be enlarged to let another species in. Paul made it a bit bigger - 28mm., and within 10 minutes a great tit was looking into it!

They are now definitely in. So exciting, but a huge time-waster!!

She spreads her wings and rotates - a nest-forming movement that was performed many times before there was actually any nest material.

Husband looks in repeatedly but as yet (27th March) has not been seen inside.

Moving in day! Saturday 27th. March 2021. This nest material is about 5 trips-worth.

An early visit by the female Great tit.

A nestbox camera

 I have long wanted a camera with which to see what goes on at a bird’s nest. I was triggered into actually getting one by being given a gift voucher towards the purchase.

There isn’t room in our present nestbox; Paul made a taller model and we now have it all fixed up, it had to have a power supply and be able to access a good wi-fi signal. It had been up about a week when I saw a beak coming in through the hole (which is 26 mm), with glossy black head attached!!  I think it was a Great tit.  It didn’t come into the box, just put its head in and out a few times.

Then, a few days later, my son saw this blue tit actually in the box. He took video but for some reason  I cannot get them to play on this blogger so here’s a capture from it. We’re very excited by this “viewing”, and really hope our little visitor takes up residence!

The camera is fixed inside the roof of the box, pointing downwards. The entrance hole is in the front, not in the floor!