Blue Tits (1 Viewer)

[Munchkin]

2 years on the trot I have been lucky enough to have blue tits nesting in my box! Sadly on both occasions the parents have disappeared and chicks have died 😔
Makes me want to take the box down to prevent this happening again!
We are close to open fields and the box is high up not facing the sun.
Interested to know if this is common.
Thank you

 

[delia todd]

Hi Munchkin and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. I'm so sorry to hear that your nest box has failed twice but it's difficult to say what may have happened. It could be that one of the adults died (any number of reasons, cats, cars, predator such as a Sparrowhawk. This would mean that the remaining partner would not be able to feed the youngsters on their own... they can lay up to 15 eggs, so it's a lot of work even for the pair.

There is a high failure rate among small passerine nests such as this, which is the reason why they lay so many eggs - they just need one of their young to survive to adulthood to replicate themselves. This keeps the population stable. I think you've been unlucky to have this happen in consecutive years, so please don't give up.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[norway]

Probably pretty common. A neighbourhood cat got the ones in the box outside my kitchen window last year, but this year they've done great.

 

[Munchkin]

Thanks for your responses. I should add that when we opened the box there were 6 dead chicks on both occasions, very sad but I know these things happen. I feel I am encouraging this situation again! Third time lucky, I might not have any more chick deaths on my hands 😁

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I think you have just been unlucky.

 

[Chris G6 UXU]

Hello and welcome to the forum, enjoy and all the best.

 

[Lisa W]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I think you will find us a friendly and helpful group. I do hope your third time goes better than the first two.

 

[Fritz73]

Hola! Welcome to Birdforum