Hi all,
The blue tits are back in the box on my number one plot.
I can hear the babies demanding food as I go by. This seems really early.
Anyone else got hatchlings yet?
Col
Wow thats really early!
I have had blue tits nest in my garden for the past three or four years continously. I have seen them looking in and out of boxes but they usually dont start getting busy with making decisions as to which box to live in and actual nest building until the end of the month.
Good luck with your family and keep us in touch.
Blue Tits wait until a certain caterpillar emerges before they start breeding.
;D
Blue tit chicks chirping for food here. I'd put the box relatively high on the side of the house above the BBQ, (well they're usually long gone before we fire it up) and today was so conducive to having one we had to wheel it to another spot in the garden!
Ninny
PS - Don't throw away those apples that aren't fit for eating into your compost, halve them and put them somewhere nearby so the parents can get a little energy food for themselves ;)
Not really that early, to be honest. When they used to nest in our garden (they don't now because of the stupid neighbourhood cats) the young ones would always be leaving by the last week of May.
Hi all, :)
Yesterday, I thought they had flown away but they were just being very quiet because I was about. Earlier I left a video camera running whilst I went and worked on my top plot. I`m hoping to get video of the babies leaving the nest.
Carol, the food the parents bring back looks like a pale yellow moth.
I`m also very happy to see lots of pairs of wrens sitting in my brambles at bothe ends of my number one plot.
We are in a long river valley that supports a huge bird and wildlife population. Sometimes it actually seems really loud with birdsong.
Col
Just bring a tasty morsel please :)
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/th_DSCF1126.jpg) (http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/?action=view¤t=DSCF1126.jpg)
Ninny
Hi all,
Five babies flew from the box at about 7am on Sunday morning. ;D
I was sitting on my pumpkin plot for the best view with a video camera.
It was all a bit sudden and I had to snap off a big rhubarb leaf to sit on.
It was fascinating as the first two flew away confidently after putting their
heads out for a look around. The next three were less confident and it all got a bit chaotic. The third baby put its head out to look around and its head flopped down like a human baby. The parents made a fuss for ages before that one eventually made a flight of about a foot and clung desperately to the side of my tool shed before making it into the roof garden where the parents fed it for a while. The fourth baby got its wings out of the hole and was left clinging to the outside of the box with its wings spread unable to go backwards or forwards. It ended up in the fence about three feet away complaining loudly for a long time before flying over my head to a tree on the next plot. I was surprised when the parents started feeding another baby in the box, How did they all fit in there? Again they spent a long time calling the baby out before it flew to the willows that grow by the river alongside our site. One of the parent birds arrived with food to find they had all moved out. I could hear them in the trees and pick out the calls of the parents and the babies for the rest of the morning. It was as if the world was full of blue tits.
I`m hoping to get the video on to youtube, I`ll let you know if I succeed.
Col
First one emerged this morning, a bit camera shy though :)
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/bluetit.jpg)
Ninny
I was just planting out some leeks and a baby blue tit hopped around me. It is so small. Really cute though. I hope that its parent can still find it. I have never seen one before. Can't understand why.
Number two........
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/DSCF1132.jpg)
Number three.....
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/th_DSCF1135.jpg) (http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/?action=view¤t=DSCF1135.flv)
and lastly, number 4.
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/th_DSCF1136.jpg) (http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/?action=view¤t=DSCF1136.flv)
Ninny (who should have been getting the hoovering and washing done!!!!!)
Hi all,
Love the pictures, Number two is especially good, thats a serious face.
I have put my video onto Youtube,
Its in three parts called Two Sheds, One House, under the name of LazyMVideo.
You can see my tool shed and the potting shed attached to it, The green boxes on the tool shed roof are my roof garden but I couldn`t plant them as the Blue tits were in residence. The bird box is under the overhang of the potting shed roof.
Its my first try using Youtube, Please take a look.
I would link to it but I don`t know how.
Col
What wonderful videos Columbus!
Those chicks looked too well fed with the trouble they had getting out of the box ;D. Our parents came back to the box a few times after too, but decided to eat the caterpillars themselves when they found nobody home.
Ninny
Thanks Ninny, :)
They just push their chests and wings through the hole with their feet on the edge and then they are committed, theres no going back, especially with a sibling pushing from behind !
Last year I missed them leaving but this year I was more tuned in to what was going on so I was ready with the video camera.
Col
I have so enjoyed this thread watching the video and looking at the photos,. thank you both for taking the time to share with us. Brilliant.
Thanks Lorna,
I really enjoy having the birds on the allotment, the robins and the wrens too, and the frogs and toads.
I grow fruit, veg and flowers, but I`ve now made a habitat for the successful raising of three broods of blue tits and three nests of bees
along the way, which is very satisfying.
Col
Quote from: lorna on June 03, 2010, 08:11:46
I have so enjoyed this thread watching the video and looking at the photos,. thank you both for taking the time to share with us. Brilliant.
Yes, I agree with the above!
When the girls were younger & at home they used to give me very strange looks when they heard me shout with delight "I've got tits on my nuts" ;D ;D ;D.
I'm sure I don't need to translate for all you bird lovers ;).