No happy end

The night following the attacks the female did not spend the night on the nest as usual, but the morning after she did return for four brief periods and spend a few minutes incubating the eggs. However, she remained restless and could be seen in the bushes near the birdbox, calling much of the time. I had never seen her behave that way before.

Observing this behaviour, It appeared to me that perhaps the male was the first to abandon the nest and since the female relies on him for raising the kids later on she had to abandon it too. So after the female left the nest for the fourth time that morning, she never came back into the birdbox.

In the following days I have seen the couple feeding in the trees near the birdbox and the female then went to the birdbox and peeked through the entrance (but didn’t enter). I have not seen the male showing any interest in the birdbox anymore, whereas before he was always checking it. Around the same period I still saw the female begging the male for food (and getting it) so the couple had definitely not broken up.

I haven’t seen the couple recently though I occasionally see the male singing in the trees. But since there are so many leaves on the trees now it has become very difficult to keep track of the birds.

So what actions did I take to prevent further cat attacks? I got a good tip from somebody on the internet. She successfully prevented cats from climbing a tree by mounting a surgical dog collar around the tree trunk. Because this could be done without disturbing the nest I mounted this immediately (the largest size I could get, obviously):

Anti-cat shield will hopefully prevent cats from reaching the birdbox

Later I also mounted anti-cat spikes on the roof.

Should a cat still be able to reach the birdbox, it will be difficult for him to sit on the roof and try to reach through the entrance like I saw him doing on that fateful day.

Unfortunately, none of this changes the fate of the current nest but at least I’ll be better prepared for a new nest hopefully next year.

NEST ABANDONED?

Last night, the birds did not return to the nest. I think that the stress of the attacks by a woodpecker and especially the cat was too great and they probably perceive the birdbox as unsafe now.

After the attacks, the female did enter the box a few times and spend a short time on the nest, but she seemed restless and left the box again shortly after. Most important, she did not spend the night on the nest.

This morning I see them around the box again. The female is often hanging in the opening but she does not return to the nest. But perhaps it’s now too late anyway? Will the eggs be dead by now? Can you interrupt incubation for such a long period once it has started?

Attacks from a woodpecker and a cat!

Late this morning there were two attacks on the birdbox: one by a great spotted woodpecker and one by a cat.

The camera was not recording when the woodpecker attack started so the first part is missing in the video. The Female was on the nest and then a woodpecker appears at the entrance. She starts attacking it and manages to fly out of the box.

On the video you can only see a short part of the attack and the blue tit flying out. After that you can’t see a thing but you can hear the woodpecker pecking around the opening of the box. Fortunately there is a metal plate so no chance for her (it was a female) to get in.

Attack by a great spotted woodpecker, 7 May 2012 11:35am

Then just 12 minutes later there was an attack by a cat. The cat had climbed into the tree and was sitting on the roof of the box, putting his leg through the opening. At that time there was no bird in the box but the male and the female blue tit were both close by and sounding the alarm.

Cat "fishing" through the opening, 7 May 2012 11:47am

The box is designed such that a cat can never put his leg in far enough to actually grab a bird, but do the birds know this? The female bird seemed really upset and even when I write this more than two hours later I still see her checking the box all the time, sometimes going inside, but she hasn’t continued incubating so far….

Edit: around 2:40pm (about 3 hours after the attacks) she finally appears relaxed again and is back on the nest.

Final egg count: nine

No new eggs in the last two days, so nine is the final count. Our hope for babies are these beautiful pink eggs:

The female is now incubating the eggs most of the time but she still leaves the nest for short periods

Returning to the nest and leaving again, 7 May 2012 7:10-7:30am

Eggs are turned regularly and sometimes the male brings her food, like this spider

Turning the eggs and feeding, 7 May 2012 7:50am

Egg #9

One more egg this morning makes a total of nine eggs! This is exactly the average for UK blue tits.

I also captured another video of the male feeding the female on the nest.

Male feeding female on the nest, 5 May 2012 7:36am

Male feeding the female on the nest!

Incubating the eggs has started now so the female stays on the nest most of the time. This morning I witnessed for the first time how she is calling the male and after some time he arrives with her breakfast: a juicy caterpillar!

Male feeding caterpillar to female on the nest, 4 May 2012 6:29am

But later in the morning she was away from the nest for about an hour and she brought in extra feathers for the nest.

More feathers for the nest, 4 May 2012 8:20am

Egg #8, incubation has started

Egg #8 was laid early this morning (before 5:45). This could be the last egg because incubation appears to have started.

Egg #7 and interesting behaviour

This morning (before 5:45am) we got egg number 7

Later in the morning I observed some interesting behavior: the female sits on the nest, spreads her wings and opens her beak like she is screaming, but no sound comes out. It appears to be some display towards the male who is nearby (probably in the entrance of the box). You can hear HIM calling.

Interesting behaviour, 3 May 2012 6:45am

I have seen similar kind of behaviour before from the female, but I have no clue what it means…

Egg #6

Egg number 6 was laid this morning before 5:45am. I was too late to see it happen.

In the video below you can see the female bird returning to the nest in the early evening and going for a short sleep. She becomes a little fluffy ball.

Taking a rest around 7:30-8:00pm

However, after a while she woke up and left the nest (and the box again). She repeated this a few times until finally going to sleep around sunset.

Egg #5

Egg #5 was laid this morning at 5:51am!

The nest is still being improved although about half of the eggs are already there. New material is still brought in several times per day.

Bringing in nest material, 1 May 2012 8:28am

Egg #4

Egg #4 was laid 30 April 2012, 5:56am

Egg #3

Egg number three was laid this morning at 6:00am. So far, the timing of egg-laying has been very consistent, with egg 1-3 laid at 5:56am, 6:03am and 6:00am.

For UK blue tits clutches range from 2-16 eggs but is typically 8-10 with an average of 9.06 ± 2.14 according to BTO. So we should expect about 6 more eggs.

Some pictures taken outside the box

Three pictures taken of the male bird while he was sounding alarm calls because of a nearby jay:

Male sounding alarm calls, 28 April 2012 10:31am

Male sounding alarm calls, 28 April 2012 10:31am

Male sounding alarm calls, 28 April 10:31am

The female is a lot more difficult to take pictures of because she spends less time around the bird box and when I see her near the box she is usually just flying in. You can see that her colours are a bit more dull compared with the male.

Female bringing nest material to the box, 27 April 11:04am

And there is the second egg!

This morning I captured this video of the second egg being produced at 6:03am

Laying the second egg, 28 April 6:03am

....and here is the result so far: two beautiful tiny little eggs!

Two eggs in the nest now, 28 April 6:03am

FIRST EGG!!!

The first egg was laid this morning at 5:56am!

First view of the egg, 27 April 5:56am

I was expecting it to happen so I set my alarm clock early and captured it on video. You can see the bird breathing heavily and sometimes opening her beak. I think the moment when she elevates her body (around 2:25) is the actual egg-laying moment. After a few seconds recovery she checks the egg. Then she starts looking a lot more comfortable.

27 April 2012 5:54am

About 5 minutes after laying the egg, I could see her again sitting still and starting to make some kind of heavy breathing movement that went on for about 1 minute. See video below:

Movements 5 minutes after laying the egg, 27 April 2012 6:01am

I have seen her doing the same thing yesterday morning, although then she had not laid an egg. I was wondering if perhaps this is related to the movement of the embryo towards to the organ where the albumen and egg shell is formed. It would explain why I saw the same thing yesterday morning around the same time, about 24 hours before the first egg was produced. But of course I’m just speculating here and would appreciate insight from somebody with real knowledge on this matter.

Lots of feathers brought in this afternoon

Now the nest is starting to look soft and comfortable

25 April 2012 5:21pm

Around sunset, from the sound I can hear that the male either enters the box or moves on his perch on the cable near the ceiling of the box (outside camera view). The female calls him one last time before going to sleep. It’s almost like she is wishing him goodnight…

25 April 2012 7:59pm

Still working on the nest

This morning a lot of hair was brought in. I wonder where she is getting it?

25 April 2012 8:47am

…and some feathers

25 April 2012 9:34am

…and fluffy stuff

25 April 2012 9:40am

I’m surprised that she is not using it as a soft lining for the little hollow she is creating but just drops it somewhere in the box. Perhaps she is going to use it later?

More nest building, then going to sleep

Today again a lot of material was brought in. The video below shows some of the activity late in the afternoon, but it went on almost until sunset.

Female improving the nest, 24 April 2012 5:48pm

And like previous days the male is jumping around nervously while the female builds the nest

Female building the nest while the male jumps around, 24 April 2012 5:42pm

I just discovered that apparently not only the female but also the male is spending the night in the box! Female is on the nest and male is perched on the video cable near the ceiling of the box. Unfortunately he is outside the view of the camera but in the video below you can see and hear the female calling him (at 00:06). At 00:09 you can hear the male moving on the video cable. At 00:17 there is a transition where I have cut about one minute out of the video and at 00:29 you can hear the male moving again and calling softly.

This video was recorded just after sunset but just before the infrared switched on.

Going to sleep, 24 April 2012 8:22pm

First time sleeping on the nest!

The last few weeks one bird was always spending the night in the box but that was always outside the view of the camera (I assume she perched on the video cable near the ceiling).

But tonight is the first night that she sleeps on the nest and for me the first time that I catch a sleeping bird on video. Look how lovely she is fluffed up!

Sleeping, 23 April 2012 8:39pm

In the video below you can see her sleeping, waking up for a moment (or dreaming?) and continue sleeping

23 April 9:10pm

Nest building continues: mainly grass now

Lots of rain this afternoon but nest building continues. While the female brings in the material, the male is usually near the nest box jumping around nervously. In the morning it was still mainly moss that was brought in but this afternoon that changed to grass.

In the video below it is funny to see how wet the male is from the pouring rain. Look at his crest! While he goes in to check the nest he gets almost overrun by the female who is very busy building the nest! I have seen this several times today.

23 April 2012 2:05pm

…and here the same thing happens again. But now she literally jumps on top of him!

23 April 2012 1:33pm

…and here the last bit of nest building action of the day:

23 April 2012 4:59pm

Building the baby-room :)

The male is checking the progress of the nest while the female flies in with more building material. The male is contributing absolutely nothing to the building effort (this is normal I guess).

22 April 2012 8:09am

Regarding the progress of the nest, this is what it looks like as I write this. The female has dug a nice hole in the moss, but I think the bottom still needs some lining.

22 April 2012 1:00pm

Frantic nest building going on now!

This morning there was a lot of nest building activity. In some periods the female blue tit was flying in with material about every 30 seconds! Mainly moss, but I’ve also seen her bringing in grass, hair and other fluffy stuff.

This video was recorded early in the morning

22 April 2012 6:39am

At the same time I could see the male jumping around the nestbox, making himself look impressive by broadening his wings. He's also singing most of the time. Every now and then he peeked into the nestbox to see how things were progressing and sometimes he jumped in himself. The female is doing all the hard work though…
 
Another interesting thing can be seen in the video below. The female is building the nest and calls in the male. He enters the box but is hanging in front of the entrance most of the time. Although you can only see his tail and part of his wings, you can clearly see that he is making himself look impressive. But I think the pose of the female is especially interesting. She is spreading her wings slightly and fanning her tail. I’m not sure what it means but it reminds me of what I have seen (and recorded) earlier from female great tits and blue tits at (potential) nest sites. Probably some display or bonding ritual?

22 April 2012 9:44am

Finally: GAME ON!

Just when I was NOT running the camera for a few hours late this afternoon, apparently THIS has happened!

This moss was apparently brought in late this afternoon, 21 April 2012 

Looks like a serious attempt to start a nest here! I really regret that I didn’t capture it on video but I’m very happy to see it because I was already starting to get bit worried, since not much activity happened lately…

Still unclear which bird it is, but I should find out soon enough.

Not much activity….

The last few days have been worryingly quiet in the birdbox with almost no visits, except Jerommeke peeking through the entrance from the outside several times per day and one bird (the same?) spending the night there. But unfortunately no sign of nestbuilding. It looks like the bird claiming the box is a bachelor!

Today however, I captured one visit of two birds of which one was bringing in a white feather and some pieces of grass. But even if they follow through with it I fear that Jerommeke will expel them from “his” birdbox, like I have seen happening before.

Bringing in a white feather, 19 April 2012 2:26pm

First attempt at nest building! but chased off…

I have just witnessed the first nest building attempt in the history of this bird box! A female blue tit flew in with a piece of moss.

Female brings moss into the box, 10 April 2012 11:31am

She then starts spreading it around with her wings (this is what the wing spreading/ shuffling reflex is all about I guess…). Unfortunately, it appears she is chased off by our male!

10 April 2012 11:31am

Interestingly, starting at 0:59 in the video you can see the same kind of displaying behaviour (spreading wings and fanning tail) that we also saw yesterday when the great tit female was visiting.

Who gets the box? Still undecided

Although the much stronger great tits showed great interest in the bird box yesterday, there are still regular visits of blue tits. This couple visited a few times this morning.

Blue tit couple visiting 10 April 6:55am

Female doing her thing, 10 April 9:58am

This is possibly the same couple that was chased away by another blue tit yesterday. I still see him singing and displaying in the area and he regularly peeks into the opening of the box. Perhaps this couple sneaked in when he was not around.

From now on I will call this strong territorial bird “Jerommeke”, naming him after the strong guy from the Belgian comic book “Suske en Wiske” (known in Britain as “Spike and Suzy”). That is easier than all the time referring to "the bird that blah blah blah....".

He is quite easy to recognise by a distinctive marking on the left side of his head: the blue from his crown extends at one point to his black eye line. It seems to me that Jerommeke has not found a female yet bcause he is usually alone when I see him.

"Jerommeke" with distinctive head marking, 7 April 2012

However, although he chased off another blue tit, he in turn is challenged by this great tit lady that visited the box again a couple of times this morning. She is part of a couple but I have never seen the male entering the box. He just peeks inside when she calls him.

Female great tit visiting, 10 April 2012 7:08am

Great tit versus wasp!

All this happened while the great tit was checking the bird box (see previous post), but I compiled this story into a separate video.

9 April 2012 10:00am

Great tit evaluates the box!

Just three hours after the blue tit threw an “invader” out of “his” box, he is faced with a much bigger threat. A great tit is now showing a serious interest in this potential nest site!

A pair of great tits arrived and the female entered the box. She was doing all the expected stuff like pecking the floor, pecking the walls and pecking around the entrance as well as performing these typical “wriggles” with the wings spread out.

While all this was happening, I saw the blue tit who probably thought he already owned the box flying around nervously, sitting on the roof of the box and peeking inside occasionally. However, he didn’t dare to take on the great tit inside the box.

9 April 2012, 10:00-12:00am

On another subject, I’m still wondering what this posture means. Apparently it is some kind of display because it is always aimed at the opening of the box where the male bird is.

Around 1:29 in the video you can see this posture

Later in the day when the great tit had left there was again a visit of a couple of blue tits that was obviously checking out nest sites. And while I write this (in de evening), a bird is spending the night in the box. Not sure what it is (it’s outside the view of the camera) but I can hear it through the microphone. I suspect it’s a blue tit because a great tit makes more noise when entering, since it hardly fits through the opening! 

So who will take the box (if anyone) is still undecided I guess…

Attack!

Recently I have noticed that one specific bird is always singing in a nearby tree and checks the bird box many times every day. So this bird has apparently claimed the territory. It is the same bird that successfully defended the bird box in the previous post.

Today I captured this video of a fight in the box. A bird enters, then a few seconds later the bird that apparently owns this territory enters the box, fights the intruder and wins.

9 April 2012, 7:16am

See the attacked bird changing his posture just before the attack. 

9 April 2012, 7:16am

Btw, I have also noticed that recently a bird spends the nights in the birdbox again. Unfortunately this happens outside the view of the camera (probably perched on the wire leading to the camera, close to the ceiling) but I can hear it through the microphone. However, I think the bird that I saw flying into the box around sunset was not today's defender of the box.

Bird defending his territory (and birdbox)

Interesting things happening in my birdbox this morning! One bird (Bird1) visits the box and calls his/her partner. Another bird (Bird2) enters the box to inspect it. Bird1 flies out again. A few moments later an angry male (Bird3) enters and chases Bird2 out of the box within a fraction of a second!

7 April 2012, 7:56am

You can clearly see how bird3 makes himself look big and impressive by spreading his wings slightly, raising his blue crown feathers and fanning his tail.

7 April 2012, 7;56am

As I ‘m writing this, I see this same bird checking the bird box now every ~15 minutes or so. Every time he just peeks through the opening for a second without entering and then flies off again. I’ve also seen him singing high in a nearby tree. It looks like he now owns this territory and this birdbox.

I’m sure I’ve seen this bird in and around the box many times, but it is often difficult to tell them apart.

No lack of visits today!

Blue tits are now clearly looking for nest sites. As I write this at 12:30, the birdbox has already been visited several times today by what I think are different pairs and single birds. I have also seen the “wriggle” with spread out wings a number of times today.

Here is another video of one bird calling another bird into the box:

4 April 2012, 10:40am

Later on there was a pair around the box with a male that was showing off, making himself look big by spreading his wings slightly and fanning his tail while outside the box. In the video you can see him flying in, calling (his girlfriend?) and then perching in the opening of the box, making himself look impressive again. I’m pretty sure this is the same bird that has visited the box many times before.

4 April 2012, 11:14am

Bird calling another bird into the box

One pair visited this morning. The first bird calls the second into the box.

4 April 2012 8:00am

Female evaluates the bird box

There have been a few relatively quiet days in the birdbox recently and that makes me worry a bit since the time for blue tits to start building a nest starts around now. Something should happen within the next two weeks or so….

Anyway, today there were several visits to the box and one of the visits was a female that was clearly looking for a nest site. While still outside the box she looked very fluffy with her down feathers puffed up. I read somewhere that this is typical female behaviour during breeding time.

While in the box she made the typical female wriggle moves with her wings spread out and she was occasionally pecking the bottom of the box, a thing the females do to test the wood of a potential nest site. There was no male around at that moment.

By the way, these recordings have sound! I can only do that if I start the recording manually and do the video compression manually otherwise the sound goes completely out of sync. So it’s a lot of work, but very nice to have if there are going to be babies later on…

3 April 2012, 13:49

3 April 2012, 13:49

Male posturing

Today I captured some images of a male posturing in the entrance of the bird box, but unfortunately most of it is outside the camera view.

The bird enters the box, looks around and then perches in the opening of the box. Unfortunately at this point you can only see its tail and part of the wings, but you can still see male posturing (starting at 0:31), fanning his tail and spreading his wings slightly.

However, the bird box has still not been claimed by one specific bird. In the afternoon I captured images of another male in the box. I was home when these images were recorded and I could see from my window that this male was posturing in the same way (outside the box). He was together with another bird, presumably a female, but she did not enter.

In the video you can see the bird calling (to the female?) but unfortunately I have no sound in this video. The software that I use for automatic recording triggered by motion detection doesn’t record the sound properly. If I want sound I need to start the recording manually. Still, you can clearly see that the bird is calling and this is the first time that I have captured this on video.

My understanding is that the male is supposed to call the female trying to lure her into the nest site. Hopefully I will catch a successful attempt soon! 

Blue tit versus wasp

Just captured. This is quite funny :)

Another female visits

This morning the box was visited again and I saw the same thing as yesterday: wriggling/ wing fanning and in the end she picks up some of the wood shavings from the box and flies out.

I managed to see where the bird was going with the wood shavings: she flew into a tree about 7 meters away and dropped them. So it appears she is not interested in the material itself but just wants to remove it from the box.

One of the questions I have: is this the same female that visited yesterday? Well, it is very difficult to see because the birds look so similar and much depends on the light and posture, but based on some frame to frame comparison of the video I think they are different birds.

Female behaviour

I just read somewhere on the web that this wriggling/ wing fanning is typical behaviour of a female that wants to make a nest. Fingers crossed.....

House hunting?

Blue tits are still visiting the box on a regular basis. But they are behaving a bit different than before. Especially in the first video where the bird is flapping his wings inside the box. I have not seen that before and I have no clue what it means (if anything).... At the end he takes some of the wood shavings (not much left now) before flying out, like I have seen many times during the autumn.

In the second video we see a different bird that visited about 16 minutes later. He is picking up some droppings and puts them at one spot. Why is he doing this? 

Small changes in the light in the first half of the video suggest that there is another bird hanging at the opening of the box (outside). I have seen that many times before. So perhaps this is a couple evaluating potential nest sites?

No news is good news

There is no news at the moment. The box is still visited on a regular basis. Around this time of the year the birds should start looking for a nest site. Fingers crossed....

Changed camera position

All works fine :)

Latest birdbox visit statistics

Here are the latest visit statistics of the bird box. A bird spent the night in the box every night (except New Year's Eve) until January 7th. Since then there have still been frequent visits during the daytime but no roosting at night.

Very recently there have also been fewer visits to the box during the day. I think this is related to the fact that there is less feeding going on around the box. The birds used to feed in the same birch tree where the box is located. Now this has stopped.

The current quiet period gave me the opportunity to open the box and aim the camera again to the bottom of the box where hopefully a bird will make a nest in the spring. I wanted to do this well before the spring so that I don't have to mess with the box when the action (hopefully) starts!

Is this a fight over territory?

Today I captured this footage. A bird is inside the box and another one enters. They appear to be fighting for a few seconds after which the loser flies out of the box and the winner stays. It's hard to tell who is the winner, the "original" bird or the "intruder"...

Btw: no birds have roosted in the box for the last three nights. Maybe they lost interest in roosting there because of the extremely mild weather. However, there are still frequent visits of different birds during the day.

Bird chooses the bird box again!

After having scared the bird out of the box with to much noise yesterday, I'm happy to report that he has chosen to spend the night here again!