Bluetit Diary    Jan 2011 (3)

 

 

Tuesday 4th January 2011

At this stage of the season, partnerships between bluetits seem either non-existent or very weak.  Sometimes two birds appear to get on well and sometimes they don't.  Of course, things are not helped by the fact that it is more or less impossible to identify bluetits individually.

What's upsetting this bluetit then?

Ah!  Another bluetit is at the entrance.

Clearly, it's still very angry.  You can see that its beak is open so it must be yelling its head off as well as displaying like fury!

There's no point in staying there - you can't woo her at that distance.

But the bluetit inside the box couldn't stand it any longer and left, knocking the other bird off its perch.

Now, judging by these two bluetits' head feathers, I would have said the one that had been in the box was a female and the bird on the hole a male.  It's definitely got a bit of a ruff, whereas the bird leaving the nest box looks smooth and polished.

But why were they arguing?  Perhaps it's just too early in the season to do anything else!