Bluetit Diary    Apr 2015 (1)

 

 

Saturday 11th April, 2015

It was only today that we realised that something very odd was happening in Box2 - again!  You may remember that in 2013 two females and one male shared this nest box laying 20 eggs of which 12 eventually fledged.  That year the first female had laid about 6 eggs before the second female started laying so we didn't realise that there was anything odd going on until later.

Before we start, the first three pictures show the state of the three boxes first thing this morning.  There doesn't seem to be much difference between them!

Box1

Box2

... and Box3

Just after 10 o'clock, a bird came into Box2

Almost immediately, it performed a nesting wriggle thereby proving that it was female.

Shortly after it did another.  A female beyond any shadow of doubt.

Over the next few minutes it sat in the nest cup doing all those things that female bluetits do to form the nest cup.

Suddenly another bird entered the box.  In normal circumstances one would assume that this is the male, but this bird had some hay in its beak - and males don't help to build the nest - what is going on?

The first bird doesn't hang about to find out, she gets up ...

... and leaves the nest box.  The second bird still has the hay in its beak!

Now the second bird does a nesting wriggle - we must have two females vying for this box!  Why didn't they fight?  In earlier years we have seen the most horrendous fights over a box taking place.

A few seconds later this bird leaves the nest box too.

A couple of minutes later, what looks like the first female comes back to the box.  I am not certain at this stage which bird is which, but I hope to be able to tell them apart eventually!

It's clear that this bird is a female though - it does nesting wriggles!

She doesn't stay long before leaving again.

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