Bluetit Diary    May 2001 (2)

Incubation continues.  However, at about 8.45 this morning, our bird left her nest and we could clearly see 9 eggs!  Either it was laid this morning, or, in spite of the fact that it was not visible then, yesterday morning.  If today, then I would expect that it would hatch significantly later than the other eggs.  Unfortunately, she was back before I could take a photograph, but when she nipped out later I was able to take the picture opposite.

Hubby has been a bit more visible today and has brought her small flies to eat on several occasions.  On one visit with a tasty morsel, he found her missing as she had just popped out.  He appeared most disconcerted, peering closely at the eggs as if she might be hiding underneath them.  He left with the fly still in his beak only to return about 30 seconds later and go through the same ritual.  They really do seem to have a communication problem!

We are still putting mealworms into the feeder - this can be done without opening the container or taking it down.  The mealworms can be introduced with the help of a funnel held through one of the "entry ports".  We think only the female is taking the mealworms, because whenever they are being taken there is no bird in the box.  The bird takes one mealworm, goes out to the rose bush or berberis nearby to eat it, then returns for more.  It does this 3 or 4 times, then suddenly activity stops, and the bird is back in the box.  Several times while she has been absent the male has come in with an insect or caterpillar, and looks around, craning up towards the camera and peering all around.  On one occasion he pecked at the eggs and shot one across the nest.  It seems rather hard on him, if he is slaving away to bring her food, and she is feasting on easily accessible mealworms.

We think another blue tit must be building a nest in a neighbouring garden.  There is a piece of fraying garden twine holding a rose to the pergola where the mealworm feeder hangs, and the bird was pecking violently at it for some time, before flying over the hedge towards an adjacent garden with a beakful of strands.

The pattern continues as before.  Other birds have inspected the mealworm feeder - even a jackdaw looked at it carefully.  A robin tried very hard to find a way in - until now he is the only bird to have been  given mealworms, on the small shelf outside the dining room window.  Fortunately he was unable to gain access - we had dreadful visions of having to release him if he did manage to force his way inside.  Last year, we had protected a dish of mealworms from  blackbirds by covering it with an upturned hanging basket, and one became trapped inside, and had to be rescued.  (It is not that we have any objection to blackbirds themselves, but this one used to collect 12 or more mealworms in one go - we called her Hoover).

She's not gone gadding about again, has she?

Right! That's better!!

A very odd thing happened this morning.  I had put some mealworms into the feeder and some time later, the female left the nest and went to eat some.  While she was away, the male came with an offering, only to find the nest empty.  He is getting wiser to this now and he left the nest and joined his female on the feeder.  He did not stay though but went back to the nest.  By this time, he had eaten the caterpillar himself, and on entering the nest went up to the eggs, appeared to poke at them a bit as if turning them, and then settled down on them.  By this time Elizabeth and I thought we must have become confused about which bird was which, even though the male is a richer, deeper blue.  However, after a very short while, the female returned.  There was no fuss, the male just left the eggs and then the nest and the female settled down to continue incubating.  What a pity we were not recording this sequence!

The great tit is now a regular feeder from the mealworm container.  However, it doesn't get everything its own way.  In spite of its greater size, if the great tit is there when our female bluetit wants to feed, it gets chased away!  Clearly, this is our bird's feeder.