A new month and one in which we hope that nest building will start! So far there has been no sign of it but then the weather has hardly been very co-operative!
This looks like a male visitor to Box2. It has a broad white band and its head feathers are already looking a bit scruffy. If this bird wins the battle for the best nesting site around, we could perhaps call him Bruiser as he looks pretty tough and has an identifying white spot to the back left of his crown feathers.
Another picture of the back of his head showing the white spot. If anyone has an alternative suggestion for a name, please send us a feedback!
By the way, there was no record from the external camera of this bird's entrance into the nest box. The angle of the camera, and the fact that I have had to use a mask to prevent the branches behind the box from causing a continual stream of pictures to be taken as they wave in the wind, means that the strip where the system is looking for movement is very small. Perhaps I need to adjust the settings of the software?
A second bird approaches the box.
The bird inside crouches down preparing for the entrance of a second bird.
Changeover!
"That was quick!"
Again, there is no trace of the first bird leaving the nest box!
The second bird leaves a few seconds later.