Blue tits (2 Viewers)

[LucyWalton]

Hello, we have a bird box with camera in our garden. For the last few years they have nested but are generally nearly finished the nest by now. They are currently visiting the box but no sign of any nesting materials yet. I am intrigued to know if they have already built a nest elsewhere and just checking out their old nest site. Or if they are yet to start building because the weather has been so bad. Any ideas? Does anyone have blue tits who have already built a nest this year? Thanks, Lucy

 

[Kits]

We have blue tits and they are currently roosting in the nest box at night but haven’t yet started building a nest in there.

 

[LucyWalton]

We have blue tits and they are currently roosting in the nest box at night but haven’t yet started building a nest in there.

Thanks for your reply. That’s helpful to know. I really hope they choose our bird box to nest again, it’s fascinating to watch. I’ve just checked the camera and they are not roosting overnight 🤷‍♀️🤞

 

[LucyWalton]

Thanks for your reply. That’s helpful to know. I really hope they choose our bird box to nest again, it’s fascinating to watch. I’ve just checked the camera and they are not roosting overnight 🤷‍♀️🤞

Weirdly enough, they started nest building this morning!

 

[delia todd]

Hi Lucy and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. That's good news Lucy - good luck to them!

Trouble is for the likes of tits is that they have to guess rather, what the weather is going to be like when the eggs hatch. The caterpillars shouldn't be too big in the first days. One year there was torrential rain in places which washed the caterpillars off the leaves where they weren't able to be gleaned by the adults (they rarely, if ever, feed on the ground, though I have seen the odd one do it occasionally).

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

 

[YuShan]

This can vary a bit, but I have 3 datapoints from my own Blue Tit nests in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The first egg was produced on resp 27/4, 4/4 and 20/4 in those years. The nest building itself sometimes starts weeks before the first egg, but sometimes just a few days before.