Blue Tit (1 Viewer)

[AmandaW]

Hello,
New to this group as I have a question on blue tit behaviour.
So we had our first brood of blue tits in our bird box this year. We have a bird camera and it was so nice to see 6 little chicks hatch. They have been there about 2 weeks now and when we checked the camera this evening there was only 1 left in the box. On reviewing the footage it looks like one of the parents attacked all of their young except for 1! Very upsetting to see and wondering is this normal behaviour? 😩

 

[delia todd]

Hi Amanda and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. I can't really say for sure, but I'd think the parents thought there was something wrong with those two and they'd never properly fledge.

However, I've moved your post to the rather more appropriate Bird Behaviour forum.

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

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum.

We’ve had blue tit nest boxes for years and have never witnessed such behaviour.

 

[AmandaW]

I think I'm the one whose a tit 😂 Theyre all there now on the camera. But genuinely could only see 1 chick for a few hours and it really looked like they were being attacked. Ill attach the video of the "attack", then just the 1 and the most recent view. I wonder where they all were hiding??? But I'm glad they weren't killed by one of their parents 🙈🙈🙈

 

[Kits]

Ah! I see why you thought they’d been attacked!

The babies can get hidden by nest material if they snuggle under the lip of the nest. The mothers ferret around in the nest to clean it and will stand on the chicks while doing so. Pecking around the chicks while sorting the nest can look as though the chicks are being attacked.

Glad to know all is well!

 

[AmandaW]

I was wondering what she was doing being so rough with her pecking and the chicks squealing around her. It's our first time with birds in the nest so new to the whole process. Thank you for your information 😊