Awkward nesting

How awkward !

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Brood sizes in Blue Tits

Weather affecting Blue Tit brood size and timing in 2012

Bue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus

Average weight 11 grams

Average Lifespan 3 years

9 Blue Tit eggs - 3 hatched so far in this photo from 2012

We have certainly noticed at birdboxesonline that last year that the weather affecting Blue Tits was a huge contributing factor to the timing of our Blue Tits nesting. We had eleven Blue Tits in one of our camera boxes last year and all fledged on 17th May 2011, this year they laid 9 eggs of which only six hatched and survived and fledged 2 weeks later than the previous year . On average talking to others it seems they are 2 weeks behind last year - certainly in Surrey and Sussex. Were yours later?

Weather affecting Blue Tits

11 eggs from the blue tit 2011 nest

The birds time their nesting so there are plentiful supplies of green caterpillars about. The yellowness of the males chest bib is an indication of the amount of caterpillars he has eaten - this is due to the carotene pigments in them - the females are more attracted to yellower bib. The caterpillars can be found on many Trees plants and bushes and it is a very common site to see a bird hanging upside down from a twig to forage for them they need them to be plentiful! Each chick can eat over 100 per day - no wonder the female looks tatty and tired after they have fledged!

Blue Tit feeding chicks

The average clutch of Blue Tit eggs tend to be about 10 - 12 although I have heard from others as well as my own studies, this year's eggs seem to be lower in numbers. The UK generally had above average weather in March 2012 but went on to have the wettest April in over a century.
How this will effect the population generally is a bit more guess work - 70 - 80% of blue tits die each year, a huge mortality rate and most of that figure is made up of young birds - it's a brutal Darwinian process..

Fledgeling Blue Tit

However Blue Tits can live a long time 15 - 20 years in extreme rare cases. So will the population dip slightly or will the amount of breeding pairs remain roughly constant? If they can survive through the first year they have a knack for survival and are more likely to survive to breed again? This paper has noted a higher chance of breeding females being predated and the males possible countering that with feeding rituals. I suspect that this year will make little difference on the population as a whole. However if spring in 2013 has more weather affecting Blue Tits it may be another story.
Rob
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where to put my birdbox?

If only there were hard a fast rules about siting your bird box but unfortunately there are not. As they say location, location location!

Here is some help to plan your camera nestbox site.

Below are 10 tips to help

1. Place your nest box with camera with your species in mind

2. Do not place your nest box with camera in constant bright sunshine

3. Make sure your nest box with camera is securely fastened to the tree, post etc. Use screws, nylon straps to secure it - even in the strongest winds

4. Make sure your nest box with camera is out of reach of ground predators - cats etc

5. Think about a hole protector if squirrels may be a problem - not needed for woodpeckers as they will make their own hole into the nest!

6. Make sure your nest box with camera has a clear entrance / exit hole to allow clear flight to and from the nest

7. Avoid putting it in well used areas - although I have seen blue tits nesting by some bodies front door!

8. Make sure the nest box with camera is clean at the end of every season

9. Birds will nest where they feel safe - not just from predators but noise as well

10. If the bird box does not get used- move it to another position and try again

Make sure the hole has a clear flight path

In gardens, bird boxes should be erected between 5 – 6ft  if they

are not likely to be predated. At this height it will be a lot easier to clean them at the end of the season

Boxes can be put up higher 8 – 12ft if predation or human disturbance might be an issue.

Do I need to clean out my birdboxes from last year

 

Yes, Make sure that the box is clean inside. Remove last years nest and wash the box inside with hot water. There is no need to add nesting material inside the box if there is anything inside the box it usually gets removed by the nesting birds anyway. 

If you want to put a nest box camera in your existing birdbox or nesting boxes they can be bought from here 

bird box cameras birdbox camera kit

The Advantages of a bird nesting box camera

nesting boxes

 

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National Nest Box week 2013

It is national nest box week 2013 a yearly event to help promote bird boxes run by the BTO.

To celebrate we have our nest cams up early - www.birdboxesonline.co.uk

scroll down to the middle of the page to see the live feed

as it is so early we only have a little bit of activity during the day in the boxes but from about 5.30 pm we have a Great Tit roosting in one of our boxes

Give it a go - visit our shop to buy a bird box and camera

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Great Tits

More Great Tits in one of our boxes. This box is 70 metres away from the recorder with a join in the cable. Its sort of an exercise to see the physical limits withy different cameras and kit

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Great Tit Swaying

The curious swaying - possible explanation at end of video

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Roosting in the box

The Great Tit has started roosting in the box on the back fence

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Wing flapping

Wing flapping

It seems to mean many things. The male does this when in his newly found nest box as in the video above. The female does this when demanding food as part of the mating and it also seems to reinforce the bonds between male and female. It is also used practically when the female is sitting on the nest and requires food. 

The young also use it when newly fledged to indicate they want feeding.

I'm guessing it is a general signal and as the ideas communicated between birds ( food, sex, territory and alarm) are fairly basic and the signal need not be complicated. I am willing to be proved wrong on this by the way, I just don't think they have the time or brain capacity for anything else apart from basic survival stuff.

Great Tit chick doing the shaking wing thing. The parent is on the feeder below

 

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More early visitors

More early visitors in 2013

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More blue tits

More investigations from Blue Tits, but still a bit early. Maybe they are looking for a roost?

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Blue Tits exploring box

Blue Tits exploring the pavo 700 tvl birdbox

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still image from footage

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Snow visitors

Tamping down the snow and spreading some food out for the ground feeders certainly helped

 

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Early Visitors

A few early visitors to the boxes - blue tits and great tits. Have not even had time to set up a proper camera

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birdbox camera

birdbox with camera

birdbox with webcam

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Coal Tit

 Just missed the coal tit with these shots

These are of course Blue Tits but today i saw the first ever coal tit in the garden. I will endeavour to get the photos!

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Hedgehogs and Green Woodpeckers

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Hedgehog

Finally a hedgehog in the hedgehog house

 

This video was taken using our 700 tvl camera kit

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Mouse

Another unexpected visitor in the hedgehog box

 

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Camera day

 Today i took my camera with me on my normal travels.

Squirell having a loaf in the sun. Quite cute when not stealing the birdfood. This was up on leith hill - i travelled up there and only got a good picture of a squrrel, could have looked out my kitchen window! Recently on the hill i've seen tree creeper, red kite, buzzard, lesser spotted woodpecker and the day i had my camera? squirell....

A really tatty looking Robin taken in the garden

Swallow on the overhead wires at the workshop. The workshop is down on the Sussex coast just outside L.A. - for those who know i dont have to explain it.There is an outbuilding that they nest in there. They are so acrobatic flying about. Sometimes they have come through the open door in the workshop and turned around on a six pence and flown out again. If my co worker was not there i would not have beleived how quick it was.  I guess this one must have been out doing stuff of a stuff type nature as the thin white mark near his tail is a cobweb. There are always a good selection of birds at the workshop - you'd never think sparrows were in decline. Goldfinches, buzzards, egrets and barn owls are all regulars there

A rather majestic looking blackbird on the lawn 

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