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