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.