Bluetit Diary    Feb 2004 (1)

Here is a picture of him just after he came into the box.

You can clearly see a continuous blue feathered area joining his head feathers to his darker shoulder strip.

Here is Fluffy in a similar position for comparison.  Her head feathers are separated from her shoulder strip by the white head band.

Here you can see Fluffy's fluff.

Fluffy disappeared up in the top of the box for over a minute while another bird poked its head into the box.  Fluffy finally started coming down again and left the box shortly after.

We cannot be sure because we cannot see her, but we think it unlikely she is getting to the other side of the collar at the top of  the nest box.  Last year to achieve this she had to peck her way through the cardboard collar.  This year the collar is plastic and there have been no signs of heavy pecking.

Another picture of Fluffy's partner entering the box.

He seems much more visible than most male partners.  In previous years we have sometimes wondered if the female was going to have to bring up her brood single handed because we have seen so little of the male until incubation started!

Visibly Fluffy!  Thinking about the warmth at the top of the nest box perhaps?

What's this then - an embryonic nesting wriggle?

You can see more about nesting wriggles here or here.

And another!!

Things must be hotting up - and she doesn't look as though she'd even thought about starting to build her nest yet!