Bluetit Diary    Jan 2007 (12)

 

 

Monday 15th January 2007, (part3)

For the last three or four years, we have had a sparrow terrace on the east facing side of the house.  It rarely gets the sun as the house next door blocks it.  The first occupant of this terrace was not a sparrow, but a bluetit pair which successfully brought up a brood of chicks in it last year (2006).

Over the winter, I have built a rather large bird box which has two small cameras inside it.  One is mounted alongside the nest, looking across it and the other mounted above it looking down in the normal fashion.  The clever thing with this nest box is that the main camera is IR sensitive so that when dusk comes, the main lighting can be switched off, leaving the camera to operate by infra red lighting.  This box can be seen on the Webcam Viewer by watching the live feeds BBB1, which is the main IR sensitive camera, and Test, which is the normal above nest mounted camera.  The Test camera is often not available on the webcam, so don't think there is something wrong if you cannot see it listed!

This morning, the new box had its first visitor.  I was expecting a sparrow as we have seen one several times sticking its head inside the box to look around.  However, the bird that first entered the box was a bluetit!

I was slightly surprised to see this image captured today.  The bluetit didn't go into the box then, but a short while later it was back again.

This is the sideways view.  If you wonder why you cannot see the floor of the box, remember that the nesting material will be 4 to 6 cm deep by the time the chick are hatched and so the floor will be well covered then anyway.  The camera is aimed at where the bottom of the nest cup is expected to be at that time!

This is the view from the top of the nest box.

There is a sheet of glass separating the nesting area from the camera area.  I fear that this will get dusty as the chicks get active but I haven't thought out a better way of keeping the birds from meddling with the camera.

This bird is clearly very interested in what lies behind the plane of glass!

We should get some stunning views of the chicks if any birds do decide to nest here!

"What on earth is that up there?" he seems to be saying.

Another view from overhead.

This was the side view taken at the same time.

Off he goes!

I wonder if I ought to lift the camera slightly!  Perhaps one evening when the nest has been built but before the female starts to roost.

The nice thing was that he immediately came back for another look!

We don't really mind whether the box is occupied by a sparrow, bluetit or great tit.  In many ways a sparrow would be rather nice as there are very few of them around here now and it would be fun to watch another species nesting.  The nest box hole is 34mm which should be big enough for a sparrow!

It should be an interesting Spring!