Bluetit Diary    Jan 2006 (14)

 

 

Tuesday 31st January, 2006

I have at last managed to move the camera that takes the outside pictures of Box2!   I had to move this camera because the tree that the box was originally mounted on fell down in the gales during the winter of 2004/5.  This had also happened the previous winter and I was rapidly running out of trees!  The only solution was to mount the box on a nearby oak tree, but this meant that I could not get a good view of the front of the nest box from where the camera had previously been placed.  This was because according to the RSPB, the nest box had to face somewhere between north and east.  We tried the compromise of facing it south east but then the early morning sunlight streaming through the nest box hole spoilt the pictures that were taken inside.

We lived with this situation last nesting season, but I think we all missed the excellent pictures that this camera was capable of and I was determined to do better this year.  The solution I have come up with is to mount the outside camera on a ten foot pole planted more or less directly in front of the nest box which still faces due east.  I have extended the cable from the camera's previous location on the garage wall, burying it as much as possible inside the hedge that skirts the garden.  Tomorrow, I shall take a photograph of its location and post it in the diary.

This is an example of the outside camera's pictures now it has been moved.  It shows a bluetit entering the nest box.

And this was a picture taken at the same time from inside the box!

At this time of year, it is frequently the male that is first into the nest box.  However, this is the second visit of a bluetit while we have been watching so this bird could be of either sex.  We always look out for any identifying marks on our visitors so that we can follow them individually.  This bird, however, seems to have no unusual markings at all!

However, it has a fairly narrow white headband which we more commonly associate with females.

Suddenly, the bird turns and wriggled across the floor of the box keeping its breast against the floor.

This is a manoeuvre that we have seen many times before - but we have only seen it done by a female.  This is reasonable as it is the female alone who builds the nest - the male's only contribution being to bring the occasional tit-bit for his partner to eat when she is nearing the end of nest building - and the purpose of this manoeuvre appears to be to form the nest cup out of the nesting material that is brought in by the female and placed more or less at random in the nest box.

This was the end of this little nesting wriggle.  However, I think we can definitely assume that this bird is female!  That is also consistent with the fact that she has a narrow head band.

Fifteen seconds later and she was on her way out of the nest box.  This visit was over.

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