Bluetit Diary    May 2015 (6a)

 

 

Tuesday 12th May, 2015

All looks well in Box3.

 

 

Wednesday 13th May, 2015

What on earth has happened here?  It looks as though a chick has been pushed out of the nest cup and cannot find its way back.  This is probably a death sentence for this chick!

A dead chick is about to be removed from the nest box.

This chick has died while it is sufficiently small to be man-handled (bird-handled?) out of the box.  If a bigger chick dies, it is too much to get through the hole and is just left at the side of the box.

 

 

Thursday 14th May, 2015

To begin with we thought it was just the one chick that had somehow got out of the nest cup.  Then we realised that several chicks had disappeared and presumed that they had died and been removed overnight.

This picture was taken first thing and it looks as though there is only the one chick left alive.

The single chick is still looking active.  This picture shows that there is at least one parent around too.  Perhaps this chick will be OK?

This looks like a parent removing another dead body. 

 It is an hour and a half later there is no sign of any chicks left alive in the box.

What happened to the chicks in this box is a mystery.  Perhaps the female was predated and the male could not manage to look after them by himself. Perhaps they caught some bug or other - who can tell.  All we know is that it is another failure to add to the already extensive catalogue of failures in Box3!