Bluetit Diary    Mar 2008 (1)

 

 

Saturday 1st March, 2008

The hole on Box3 is big enough for this great tit to get inside easily.  I wonder whether he will become seriously interested?

This is the bluetit entering Box1.  Such visits have been much rarer since the great tit started going inside.

And no wonder!  Great tits (typical weight 16-21g) are much bigger birds than bluetits (9-12g) which wouldn't stand a chance in a fight.

He didn't quite summon up the courage to go the whole way.  He swivelled round while clinging to the entrance hole ...

... until he could see out of the hole again.

Having done that, he didn't stay long

Ten seconds later he is outside the box again!

In the event, it was some time before the great tit came around again.

Here a couple of hours have passed and one great tit on the outside ...

... seems to be talking to its mate on the inside.

The lack of any wing display makes it plain that these two birds are partners.

This time we are looking at Box2 where a bluetit has come to the box with some nesting material in its beak.

She (it must be the female as male bluetits play no part in nest building) takes the nesting material inside the nest box ...

... and then stands there for several seconds apparently wondering what to do next!

In the end, she throws it on the floor.  This is normally done with a flick of the head so that the material falls over a wide area. 

She then leaves the box.

At the end of the day, nothing has changed ...

... but by the time we switched on next morning, the nesting material had gone.

At this time in the nesting season we have found that the female bluetits seem to play games with nesting material, taking it in and out again with gay abandon.  Then suddenly they decide that they had better get down to work and proceed build the nest in a few days.

We will see what happens this year!