Bluetit Diary    May 2003 (38)

 

 

Sunday 18th May, 2003

We started the day by looking at Fantail.  Had any more of her eggs hatched?  If the chicks hatch later than today, they will have difficulty surviving the competition for food that takes place between the chicks.  Two days younger is difficult, three day is well nigh impossible.

No sign of another egg being hatched.    Here's some food for Fantail to keep her spirits up.

Definitely four eggs still left here.

This morning, as four of Fantail's eggs had hatched, we decided to reinstate the mealworm feeder at the bottom of the garden.  This was very popular last year, and has the advantage of being squirrel proof - though the robins don't approve of it - they can't get inside either!  However they will continue to be fed at the window feeder.

The mealworms go in the little dish at the bottom.

Elizabeth took the feeder down the garden to hang on the pergola at the bottom and, as we used to do last year, banged with a spoon on the arm of an old wooden chair there - she also called "mealworms", because the bluetits certainly seem to associate her calling with a food supply, as she calls when she puts mealworms in the window feeder.  (Goodness knows what the neighbours might be thinking!).  She came back in the house, and by the time she was able to watch from the sitting room, a bluetit had arrived - we think it was Flash.  We rapidly changed to Box2, and saw Fluffy perking up as she heard Flash's call.  She promptly went out, and must have taken the mealworm from him, because she immediately came back in with it, and gave it to one of the chicks.  We are amazed that Flash discovered the newly positioned feeder within seconds - is it possible that there could be some memory involved?

We then watched Box2, trying to count the chicks, since Fluffy was out.  Flash came in with a mealworm.  The chicks have already grown big enough to be able to handle these, and he gave it to Fluffy who fed it to a chick.  The chick eat it and turned bottom up, as chicks often do directly they have been fed.  Fluffy took the white sac and ate it as usual, but realised that there was some more, so she had another go and this time she pulled out a small white blob with a long unpleasant black tail.  Instead of eating it, she left the nest with it in her beak.  She was gone some time during which Flash continued to feed the chicks himself.

A bit later Flash came in with some food and was starting to feed a chick, when a scratching sound was heard, picked up by the microphone in the box; it sounded as though there was something outside trying to get in.  Flash's immediate reaction was to cover the chicks, presumably to protect them.  Elizabeth rushed outside to look at the box - we have quite a few magpies around, and we thought that it might have been one of them - but there was nothing to be seen, and things were soon back to normal.