Fantail doing another nesting wriggle. At long last her box is starting to look as though she is getting serious about all this nesting business.
Fluffy doesn't manage such an impressive wriggle. When seen dynamically (ie live), her left wing appears partially paralysed - although she appears to fly all right - she doesn't go round in circles or anything like that!
We are not quite sure how to interpret these two of shots. Is it a confrontation or is Flash feeding Fluffy? It can't be a normal exchange as Fluffy is in the nest and Flash (or another bird?) is the one entering. We think he is bringing Fluffy some food.
This is another of Fluffy's wriggles. There's lots happening on her right hand (wing?) side, much less on her left.
Finally, Fantail seems to think Box1 is coming along nicely!
Tuesday 25th March, 2003
Another exchange.
What purpose does this behaviour fulfill? It appears to happen with all the bluetit pairs that we have followed through a nesting cycle. We presume its all to do with pair bonding. If there is any expert out there that can explain it, perhaps they could send us some feedback.