A bluetit comes to investigate what is going on
After another gap, we have been monitoring our nest boxes again We continue to get various visitors.
So does a great tit. I would quite like a great tit's nest for a change but Elizabeth doesn't feel the same way!
Although the nest box hole is protected by an aluminium plate, it is still big enough for a great tit. However, so far we have never managed to catch an image of a great tit actually inside the nest.
After a while, one of our visiting bluetits entered the box. As usual, the question is: what sex is it?
Tradition has it that the initial exploratory visits are made by the male who checks a possible nest site out and only if he is satisfied does the female get a look in. This sounds too male oriented for my liking but I have a sneaky suspicion that it may be true!
However, this bird has a narrow white head band and so it looks more like the females we have had in previous years than the males..
What's going on here?
All is made clear!
Now this isn't the right angle to get a good look, but it does appear that the outside bird has a broad head band.
Yes - you can see it quite clearly now! The bird inside is chatting to, or is it displaying to, a bird on the top of the nest box. Let's hope this is a potential pair.
Also the white band around the top of the head of the outside bird is much wider than that of the bird inside the nest box.
In previous years, the female has been the one with the narrow band and the male the one with the wide band.
We'll have to see what happens over the next few months.