Bird Box Diary 2002
A Note about the videos:- Microsoft has a free Media player for Apple Macs and iMacs.  A couple of friends have tested it and found that they can play .avi files if they download a).  The Windows Media Player for their O/S AND 
b) an upgrade/plug-in from Apple's site.  In view of this, I shall not be continuing support for QuickTime .mov files.

Saturday, 16th February On Tuesday, 12th, we returned home from a week 'house-sitting' for my daughter in Milton Keynes.  When I turned on the camera in the evening, I saw a small ball of feathers curled up asleep inside the nest-box.  Since then,  she (I am assuming it is a 'she') has been back every night. There has also been a good deal of interest in the box during the day.  I have seen at least three different birds in the box. The one that roosts there has been defecating in the box, which I found rather surprising.  In the mornings, she would leave; only to return to remove the droppings one by one.  I don't remember this happening last year.  I am wondering if it is her way of 'marking' her territory.  Perhaps someone on the birdwatching newsgroup will know?  In this picture, you can see the three droppings that she later removed.

This is a still from a video of her removing the droppings.  I have produced 3 versions.  One is of her taking just one out and is designed for those of us without broad band; another is longer and shows her take each one in turn.  The first is only 60k and last 6 seconds; the second is 348k and lasts 35 seconds.  Short Version  Click Here Long Version  Click Here

Monday, 18th March Very little has been happening for the last month.  I have had a male tit roosting in the box for several weeks but he went AWOL for about 5 days.  I believe that there is a different one in there now.  He has been trying to attract a mate to the box and we have seen various visits from females.  This one had a good look around and started to do three shuffles.  There is a video of the last one and then you will see her remove what appears to be a coarse piece of nesting material,  There is just the one version this time and I have left the sound in.

Thursday, 21st March One of the visiting females seems to have taken a dislike to the presence of the camera.  For a few days, now, she has been attacking it.  It is mounted on two rawl-plugs to get the angle and so the screws are not embedded deeply.  This animated gif shows how far she has moved it.  I need to get the ladder out to adjust it and stabilize it, I think!

Here is a still from a short video that shows her attacking the camera. Click on the picture to see it.

Later the same afternoon. Having opened the box, I found that the camera had been completely ripped from its mounting.  It was not screwed in as I had thought; that was last year!  This year, I had used duck tape and I hope that it was the silver coloured tape that had upset her.  She had managed to tear most of it off and the camera was hanging by the lead.  Click on he picture see a video of how she managed to move it.  It is now five minutes later and I can hear her on the outside of the box. She came into the box several times and still attacks the camera!  I hope it's a habit that she can cure!

Tuesday, 26th March Yesterday, I was really pleased to see some nest-building action at last.  A female made 4 visits with beakfuls of moss and shuffled it about in a rather haphazard fashion.  There is a video link from the picture on the right.  Click on the picture to view it.  It is 248k and lasts for 12 seconds.

Friday, 29th March Nesting material is still being brought in.  She seems to have bursts of activity for around 12 or 15 minutes when she makes 4 or 5 visits with beakfuls of material.  There is usually a lull, then for about an hour before she does the same again. The strange difference with this year is that she generally stops on the way out to peck furiously at the outside of the box.  She has made quite a mark on the outside.  If you click on the picture, there is a video to show this behaviour.

Saturday, 30th March Thanks to the lovely weather, there was a great deal of activity yesterday.  It was the first time that I have seen her bring more nesting material late into the afternoon.  Again, there was a burst of activity for about 15 minutes during which time she brought 'stuff'.  The base of the box is now covered with moss and coarse-looking grass.  She spent the night roosting in the box.  I have seen her return just once this morning.  The sun is doing its best to burn off the thick mist that we had this morning.  Hopefully, she will be adding more today.

There continues to be sporadic action with the nest box.  The female is still bringing a selection of material and some of it appears to be of a finer quality.  You can just make out where the nest cup may turn out.

Sunday, 7th April This morning, we were watching a pair of jackdaws pulling the fur from the back of an elderly donkey that lives in the field behind our house.  He put up with them for over two minutes and then shook his head and off they went to line their nest.  There is a video to show this which lasts for 8 seconds and is 164k.

Friday, 12th April The nest building continues.  The last few days have been bright and sunny but with a chilly easterly breeze and a frost at night.  She has been bringing more soft furnishings for the nest and sometimes spends time arranging it in the nest.  Today, she has been bringing a variety to add to the nest and has been seen to remove pieces; perhaps they were too coarse?  The video is 12 seconds and 159k.

Tuesday, 16th April She didn't roost in the box again last night and I have not yet seen much of her this morning.  Here she is in the nest this morning doing some adjustments.

Wednesday, 17th April The box was empty all night again and I first saw her enter at 7.45.  She has been in many times since then.  I have not seen her bring any new material but she has been staying, for several minutes sometimes, to do some fine tuning to the nest cup.  There is a video linked to the picture to show this.  It is 202k and lasts 12 seconds.

Saturday, 20th April The last couple of days have been pretty warm and sunny but today is dull and dismal!  The female has been continuing to bring some nest material but generally just visits and adjusts the 'bedding'.  I have seen her mate feed her several times in the hawthorn.  There appears to be no urgency in her visits.  I must be patient, I suppose!

Thursday, 25th April I was watching her just after 6.00 am this morning as she started to have the large contractions accompanied by the clicking noise.  Suddenly, between the 4th and 5th contraction, she sat up as if frightened by what she could hear.  I went to the lounge and saw two rooks and a magpie on the patio.  They left as soon as they saw me and by the time I had returned to the study, she had laid the fourth egg. I watched the replay and saw that she only had nine contractions again.   She had another few seconds of alarm as a flock of seagulls went over towards the estuary making a terrible noise.  They sounded more like honking geese!  She remained in the nest cup and appeared to turn the eggs beneath her.  I wonder if this helps to dry them off?

Yesterday, we saw the donkey being 'fleeced' again by some jackdaws.  As they were closer than last time so I have added another short video of 15 seconds and 128k. There is also a larger version of the picture HERE. (640 by 480 and 20k)  The jackdaws appear to have handlebar moustaches!

Friday, 26th April The fifth egg arrived this morning at 6.11 am.  It was a horrible day outside so Mum had a lie in.  I don't blame her!

Saturday, 27th April She laid the sixth egg at 6.14 this morning.  She then had a rest to recover before leaving at 6.32.  She was back in at 6.58 and went back to sleep with her head under her wing till 7.10.  Since then, she has been back several times with more nesting material.  Each visit is accompanied by a merry little chirrup as she comes in.  She has covered the eggs even more but I was able to get a quick view of them as she jumped off for a moment.

Sunday, 28th April The  seventh egg arrived with some alacrity this morning.  Her breathing became quicker before six a.m. and the first contraction was seen at 6.03.  After 9 visible contractions, the egg was laid.  The whole event took less than one minute.  She left at 6.30. Throughout yesterday, she made frequent and prolonged visits to the nest.  On occasions, it looked as if she had started brooding.  I suspect that she just wanted to get out of the rain and cold wind that we had all day.  She often bought additional nest material. This has been repeated this morning as well, although I have not seen her bring material.

Monday, 29th April This morning followed the established pattern.  She began to 'pant' but maintain her 'head-down' sleeping position.  The eighth egg arrived at 6.09 and she remained in the 'sleep' pose till leaving at 6.39.  She returned very shortly afterwards and settled onto the eggs. At 7.01, the male made the first of seven visits over the next 15 minutes.  His arrival was greeted with the usual 'chirrups' and 'purring' sounds. Yesterday, she spent a good deal of the day in the nestbox and I assumed that laying was over.  She appears to be sitting now (8.15) but has been AWOL for several bouts of a few minutes each.  I have attached a video of her being fed with the bottom picture. It is 291k and lasts for 20 seconds.

Tuesday, 30th April There were no more eggs this morning and she spent almost all of yesterday incubating the eggs.  Now begins the long wait till the eggs hatch.  Last year incubation lasted 11 days.  So far today, the male has been very attentive and has made frequent visits to feed his mate. Entries will be rare unless there are any major developments.  Look back in about 10 days.