Last Christmas, my daughters bought me a nest box and camera set. Over the last few years Blue Tits have nested in a box that was installed outside the window, or what was my home office when I was working and now a spare bedroom. The camera would now allow me to watch them if they were to breed again.
Just before we left for Costa Rice I set everything up, and I was able to watch the nest box on my phone via the internet and bluetooth. The prime time to put up nest boxes is at the latest the middle of February, so all was good.
I would check every so often, but almost always was presented with an empty pine box. Then on the 21st March I saw this:
Things moved slowly at first with the moss and feathers being brought in and strangely taken out. But it wasn't until the start of April that the serious nest building kicked in and one Blue Tit started to take up residence, creating a hollow at the back of the box. This was taken in the evening of the 5th April, probably the female settling in.
Then a sight of the first eggs on the 9th April, two at least
The female would cover the eggs before leaving the nest box.
On the 15th it was clear that there was now a good number of eggs, but the eggs were covered as usual when the female left the nest.
Then on the 16th we could see that there were eight eggs in total.
Incubation then started the female being seen on the nest, but not just sitting but fidgeting and continually digging down to turn the eggs.
Then on the 29th we had chicks, only four to start with. Both adults started feeding the babies, the female however staying in the box for much of the time to brood the chicks.
Eventually it was clear that all eight chicks had hatched but by now there was definitely a size difference between the eldest and the youngest.
The chicks were growing and it was now possible to see the pin feathers on the wings, although the eyes were still closed. Turning the volume up it wasn't possible to hear them, but every so often the mouths would open showing off the yellow bill and the orange gapes.
By the 3rd of May the adults were bring in food, caterpillars and even some of the mealworms we were feeding the Robins and Blackbirds.
The following day the weather changed. I didn't look at the nest box cam until there early evening and I didn't like what I saw. The camera was on infra red and there was no adult in the box. Hoping that they were out looking for food I didn't worry, but when I checked at around 21.00 there wasn't any sign of an adult, the chicks were still moving, but no longer begging.
Next morning I checked and was faced with the sad sight of all eight chicks dead in the nest. We will never know what happened to the adults, why did they abandon the nest. Was it because of the Starlings close by that finally spooked them, or was one of the adults, maybe the female predated by a Sparrowhawk. There is a lot of activity with the starlings around the house and this surely has attracted one.
The sad thing is we will never know. This hit me really badly, I am not sure why, I cleaned the box out this morning and buried the little chicks. I removed the camera and installation and packed everything away for another year. I left the box in place, I know it won't be used again this year, but with it in place, it is a familiar sight, all I have to do is fit the camera in next spring.
So a rather sad end to what I had hoped would be an fascinated journey following the early lives of these little birds.
No comments:
Post a Comment