Diary 2005 Page Three

Bird Box Diary 2005:-Page Three

Saturday, 14th May, 2005
I will start with the events for Thursday. With our guests, we decided to visit Gigrin Farm, as I mentioned before. It's about a hundred miles from us so was a whole day out and well worth it. Even the journey through some beautiful parts of Wales was thrilling. Added to this was the anticipation of seeing red kites at close quarters. We were not disappointed!
For anyone who hasn't been there, here is some information. You can read about it on their web site at:- http://www.gigrin.co.uk/index.html and read this handbill that is available. (Larger versions if you click on them)

There are larger versions of all the pictures if you click on them.

There is a video clip of the red kites feeding. Click the video icon. They are both the same but different sizes and qualities. They are both 38 seconds long.

Lower resolution.
992k

Higher resolution
2912k

We were very surprised to find that the first egg had hatched when we returned from the shops yesterday at about 5 o'clock. We were just in time to watch the female eat the shell. I was taping for over 8 minutes before she finally finished it. She found that it was easier if she kept her foot on it to stop it falling back into the nestcup.
This morning, we found that three more eggs had hatched; leaving another three to go.
Another real surprise is the action of the male. He has been a very busy boy. I saw him bring three feeds in 90 seconds. They are flying to the hawthorn and searching the new leaves for grubs. At times, they dangle upside-down to find food. I have a funny video clip that shows both parents in the nest. They are making a terrific noise and seem to be shouting at the chicks to wake up and smell the coffee or, in this case, eat these grubs. When they see there are no takers, they scoff them themselves and I'm sure they say, "Sod 'em then!" to each other!

Monday, 16th May, 2005
Yesterday morning, there was still one egg left but this had hatched by lunch-time. You can just see it in the picture between the chicks. This was at 0715.
Both birds are being very good parents and feeding regularly. It is quite common to see both of them in the nest at the same time. They are not using the mealworms but prefer to use the tiny green caterpillars that they are finding among the new leaves on the hawthorn tree and the bushes in the field behind us. These are quite small but they still sometimes squidge them up to feed. They are both very delicate in this.

On one occasion, the female came in with quite a large feather. She just flung it randomly and then picked it up again to try on. Next, she tried to see if it would stay on while she delved into the nest cup to stir up the chicks. When she surfaced, she was wearing the feather at a rather jaunty angle and seemed to decide that it was quite practical and most striking!
You can see a larger version of the pictures if you click on them and a short video of Mrs B.T. modelling her new Spring Fashion in the clip below.

Four gaping mouths

All dead!

Tuesday, 17th May, 2005
Viv and I have been out all day and returned to find that tragedy has struck our little family.
I was replying to two emails that both contained worrying news of failed nests and realised that I hadn't heard or seen any visits to our box. I stopped replying and watched. As I didn't see much sign of life, I went outside to scratch the box hoping that the chicks would all spring into their 'Feed me' pose. No such luck. They hardly moved. I will attach a video to show the sad event, even if few people watch it.
We have been having trouble with cats just lately. There are two that have been stalking on the patio. However, we think that a more likely reason is that it has been so cold. There is a north wind that is blowing straight into the box. The parents have been out of the box for several minutes, sometimes, trying to find grubs. I think the cold has got them.
I am going to continue to watch for a while and hope I see the parents. I don't think they will be back unless it's to roost. There is no point in them removing the bodies as they are all dead.
When I was first watching at around 6.30 this morning, it all seemed fine. In fact, there was one interesting clip of video where a parent fed a chick, waited for a faecal sac and then left. As it did, the chick upped its rear and obliged! Shortly afterwards, both parents came in and the male collected his 'present' and left whilst Mum ate hers, as usual.
Later in the morning, Viv noticed that they were not very keen to feed when anything was brought in. It could be that the female was away for too long at a stretch and they got too cold. I don't suppose we will ever know.

One faecal sac missed!

Both parents feeding live chicks.

No sign of life!

Thursday, 19th May, 2005
I have now taken down the box and removed the corpses and they have all been recycled. I was very surprised at the depth of the actual nest cup. I assumed that it would be like half a ball but, in fact it is straight sided and then has a rounded base. The chicks were all huddled at the bottom in an inert heap. There are pictures below.
I took video of the removal as I still intend to make the DVD of the Diary for 2005 that I had planned. This one will be a "Weepy" and will just have a sad ending! Below are the pictures of what I found. I was also surprised at the difference in the size of the smallest and largest. There were two that were quite small and three larger with a couple in between.
It was amazing that on the same day, I received an email from Mark and Nicky about the failure of their nest. Follow this link to read more:- (http://www.markyboy.net/birdbox2005/) .
I also heard from another Mark, a student at Norwich, who had great tits nesting in the letter box that was attached to a wooden post near the front door. The postman had been warned not to use it. Mark became concerned that there was less noise and little activity from the parents and so it was decided to take a peek. They found the chicks were also dead.
I have received several emails and signatures in the Guest Book; both public and private; from 'regulars' for which I thank you.
This morning, before 7 o'clock, I put the bodies on the back lawn so that they could be recycled. I was pleased with the outcome. I won't spoil the ending! You can see what happened by clicking on the video camera below.

Did you notice that it didn't eat the chicks? It carefully, almost reverently, collected them and took the off to be recycled. The ultimate in organ donation. Total.

On a happier note, I have been putting out scoops of mealworms, pupa and beetles for all comers. The male blackbird takes the prize for "Most Food In The Mouth" contest. (Do you remember "Double or Drop"? [Now is that with Eamon or Michael]) As usual, there are larger pictures if you click on the small ones. There are also a few other pictures.

Saturday, 21st May, 2005
I am pretty sure that I saw a BT in the garden a couple of days ago but nothing since! I have also heard from more people with failed nests. Below is a screen shot of the latest entries in our Guest Book.

There have also been success stories, too.

This is from Daphne who lost all her chicks last year:-

Hi Dave

At least I've got good news (so far, touch wood, fingers crossed). Our nest had eleven eggs, and we've been seeing nine or ten chicks, but now they are 15 days old, we are seeing eleven. After our two sad experiences, this is great. They are so cute now that they look like perfect miniatures.

I've bought three lots of 500g of mealworms this week, as the sparrows are helping themselves too, and I don't mind helping them. We have a pair of blackbirds rearing chicks in the ivy over the back door, and they practically come into the kitchen for worms. And of course the ever-present starlings. They lurk by the feeder and mug the smaller birds as they come out. But I don't mind helping them either, as long as they're not too greedy.

I mentioned that we had put up two swift boxes on the front of the house.

The day after they went up, a male starling took possession of one, and spent eight days "furnishing" it and sitting outside calling for a mate. He finally succeeded and now she is sitting on eggs. Again, don't mind that, as starlings are on the amber list.

What a brilliant time of year!

Best wishes
Daphne

And this from Naomi:-

Dave

I'm gutted. I just logged on to check your progress to see any new fashion poses and I wanted to tell you that literally 5 minutes ago we spotted our first fluffy BT fledgling from our box. I have never seen one so small. Both parents are flying around madly gathering food for it. It is very unstable on its legs and pecking experimentally at anything near by! I am hoping there are more still to come out from the box.

I'll let you know if we see any more and I'll see if I can get a good photo.

Best wishes

Naomi

And an extract from Marie-Ange:-
Hi Dave,

So sorry to read that you lost all your birds. Nature can be very cruel but I suppose we have got to accept that. Better luck next year I hope.
Update on our box... As I had told you previously we had 10 eggs which have now all hatched successfully. 6 were born on Tuesday 10th, 2 more on Wed.11th and the last 2 on Thurs.12th. We just cannot believe how fast they are growing !!! We have had an ordinary bird box for the last 6 years (since we moved into this house) and a brood of bluetits every single year, but of course we didn't know what was happening inside the box. So it has been quite an education for us all. Even friends and family ask for regular updates. I make regular video recordings to show them as they are all curious to know what's going on. There are more potential "twitchers" out
there than you might suspect!......

EXTRA
Did anyone see the tiny fox cub last night on the badgercam? My video camera decided to play-up just when I needed it. I am sure that the little cub was much too small to be out on its own. I am very concerned as we haven't seen Mum for a couple of weeks. I hope he gets back tonight as he a absolutely beautiful. Looks just like Mum but in miniature!