However, this morning suddenly nest building started in my box! The female was bringing in materials and I saw the male being excited and jumping around the birdbox too.
Nest building has started, 3 May 2013
8:56am
Contrary to last year when the nest was being build quickly and without hesitation, this time it feels like the bird is still in the process of evaluating the box. When she brings in material she spends a lot of time looking around (not in the video).
But then something remarkable happened. While the nest builder (female) was inside the box, another blue tit appeared in the opening of the box but (at first) did not enter. To me it looked like another female because she was together with another bird that behaved like a male. Actually, I think this is the same male that was with the nest building female.
The bird in the box started to display what I think is a threatening posture towards the bird that is hanging in the opening. I have captured this in the video below. Eventually the bird enters and the nest builder flies out. Since then the nest building has stopped and I have not seen this bird back in the box.
Is this a threatening posture against the
bird that is hanging in the opening? 3 May 2013 9:28am
I’m quite puzzled by this situation because there appeared to be two females and one male. The male was not defending its territory against the nest builder. On the contrary it seemed! But then this female gets booted out of the box by another female that has no interest in the box herself? It is hard to tell the individual birds apart, but I think that the bird that chased the nestbuilder off was the female that is nesting in my neighbour’s garden.
The nest building female has not been back since, but the male now keeps checking the box very regularly during the day, including pecking around the opening as if he is evaluating it as a nest site. This is a big difference from the past few weeks because the birds seemed to have lost all interest in my birdbox.
