Diary 2003 Page Two

Bird Box Diary 2003 Page Two

Friday, 25th April, 2003
This morning we have another very windy, wet day. The fifth egg was laid just before 6.00 am again. Once again, the BT was very reluctant to leave the box and stayed until well after 6.30. She spent a long time drawing nest material under her to cover the eggs. I am hoping that this is only done when the weather is so bad. In the past, I have been able to get at least one good, clear picture of the eggs before she returned to cover them. This morning's picture was the best I could get. Shortly after I 'grabbed' this one, she was head-down turning the eggs and then only 4 were in sight!

Saturday, 26th April, 2003
The weather today is a little better; at least it's dry! The temperature was 9°C at 6.00 am but there is a strong wind from the south which has been increasing through the night.
As you can see from the picture, there are now six eggs and she has made no attempt to cover them up when she left at 6.25. Even when she returned at 6.50, she just left them uncovered. Her wings are just receiving a bit of a stretch before she leaves.
I have watched a replay of the captured video and really can't yet determine the actual time of laying! It must be getting easier!

I watched the video again later in the morning and was able to see that this latest egg was quite a bit later than the others. It wasn't laid until 13 minutes past 6. I had been scanning the captured video too early!

At about 2.00pm the female came back into the box and settled herself on the eggs. She even put her head under her wing to sleep. It was beginning to look as if she had started to incubate the six eggs.
Shortly afterwards, the male came in with a food offering. This is the first time that I have seen this behaviour this year. He returned several times during the next hour and she has remained sitting.
I have linked a short video to the picture. It is 408k and lasts for 10 seconds.

Sunday, 27th April, 2003
It is still windy and grey but quite mild (10°C). I was clearly mistaken about incubation starting, as there is now a seventh egg! This was laid at 6.18 this morning. She stayed in her sleeping position for the laying and left the nest at 6.40.
She returned a few minutes later to continue sitting and was fed several times during the next 20 minutes by her mate.
Since then, she has made several sorties out of the nestbox. I suspect there will be another egg tomorrow.
The implications are that the chicks will hatch over several days and be at different stages of development. This caused some problems two years ago as the bigger chicks can compete more successfully for food.

Monday, 28th April, 2003
It was another mild morning (11°C) but very windy (22 knots on the Pembroke Buoy from the SSW). I was expecting to see the eighth egg this morning. I was watching till almost 7.00 am before she decided to take a peek outside and I could see only seven, still. Having looked, she thought better of it and returned to the nest-cup twice before she took the plunge and left.
She was back very shortly afterwards and the male began to visit with food. The first two feeds occurring in quick succession.
She then settled on the eggs and it would appear that incubation has begun.
The female, this year, is very vociferous. Her mate generally calls to her from outside and she becomes quite noisy. She calls back and then seems to purr as he comes in with food for her.

Tuesday, 29th April, 2003
There has been no change over night. There are still only seven eggs and the female spends most of her time incubating them. The male feeds her frequently but I have been surprised by the number of times that she leaves the nestbox and the length of time that she is away.
She still makes a great deal of noise when she hears her mate call or land on the box and quivers with anticipation. Often, she will leap up and go to the hole to be fed and just as often, leave the nest for a minute or so. Earlier today, I watched her with a feather in her mouth looking around the area of the feeders. She appeared to find what she wanted and returned to the box.

Tuesday, 6th May, 2003
There is little to report for last few days. The male continues to feed the female in the box and they call to each other far more than I have heard in the past. The female will often go to the hole to collect the food and many times will go out as well. Her visits to the outside have become less frequent and she now spends much more time settled on the seven eggs.
Based on the diaries for previous years, I would expect the eggs to begin hatching nineteen days after the laying of the first one. This would be next Sunday. I shall start the video recorder from Friday morning, just to be sure that I don't miss anything.

The first chick is in the middle

Two chicks by 5.20pm

Friday, 9th May, 2003
I was caught unawares this afternoon. I came into the study to check the email and saw the female leave the nest and was most surprised to see the first chick.
She returned shortly and began to turn the eggs. The male arrived a few seconds later with a grub which she took and offered it to the chick. The feed was obscured by her body but the chick appeared to take it. The male stood by and watched the whole thing. He then left and she turned the eggs again. While she was head-down, I saw another egg appear to move and started the video capture. The female then went back to brooding but was holding a very large piece of eggshell in her mouth which she began to eat.
Having swallowed all of the egg, she looked back into the nest hole and also saw the egg move. She began to help the chick by grasping the shell very gently in her beak and lifting. The second chick emerged at 5.10. She ate the shell and left the nest.
In the meantime, I had put more mealworms into the feeder as it was empty. It has only been back up for three days in anticipation of extra mouths to feed and both birds found it very quickly.
Whilst writing this, a BT returned with a grub and cheeped at the chicks to get them to present their beak. They both seemed reluctant to do so. Then the other bird arrived and it was quite clear that it was the female. She took the grub and coaxed a chick to take it. Dad stood by to look and learn(?) and then left to get more. Click on either picture for a larger version.

Saturday, 10th May, 2003
I was at the computer before six this morning and found five chicks and two eggs remaining. Both parents are being very diligent with the feeding duties and I have seen the male enter the box on his own to feed. The chicks do not seem to be too hungry, however! The female often gets fed up trying to coax them to eat and ends up eating the food herself.
On one occasion, she was trying to arouse interest in a juicy grub when the male arrived with another. She looked at him; looked at the chicks; swallowed the first grub, took the second from Dad and ate that one, too!
To see this as a video clip, click the video icon. It lasts 16 seconds and is 440k.

There is a larger version of the picture if you click on the image.

Sunday, 11th May, 2003
Some time in the night, the final egg hatched. The male brought the first food of the day just before 6.00 am and having fed one of the chicks, left with the female to collect more food. At this point, I put some mealworms in the feeder to help out.
During the rest of the day, feeding and 'mucking-out' has been progressing normally. The weather has been a bit mixed. We had a brief and light shower around noon and the temperature has struggled to stay above 10°C. It has now clouded over, too. I have been surprised by the participation of the male, this year. He has been far more attentive and responsible than the ones of past two years!

Monday, 12th May, 2003
I was very worried this morning while watching the nest. I was quite sure that there was a dead chick in there. In the picture, I have indicated its position with an arrow. I watched for almost two hours and didn't see it move. The female 'stirred' the chicks but it still seemed lifeless. It wasn't until 8.45 that I was able to confirm that they were all alive. By that time, I had refilled the feeder with worms and watched the male go straight in. He then flew into the hawthorn to 'butcher' and fillet it.
In the picture you can clearly see six set of dark eye rings and beaks. Judging by the size of the chick, I assume it was the youngest.

7.30 p.m.
Here is a picture which shows six mouths gaping and one that is being fed. Both parents are in the box. It prompted me to refill the mealworm feeder for the fifth time today. There is a larger version if you click on the picture.

Rogue straw
This is the straw.

Tuesday, 13th May, 2003
Not much to report today. They had their first feed of mealworms around six this morning and have had at least 5 more since then. I don't put too many in as it is rather cold for them. I did see the male making a bit of a pig of himself this afternoon, though.
My main concern over the last few days has been a piece of rogue straw that kept sticking up right across the picture. At one point, I was going to attack it with a long pair of tweasers whilst being directed by Viv in the study with the walkie-talkie. Luckily, it never came to that. On one of his visits, the male managed to get it caught up in his feathers and he dragged it out with him. The picture shows it sideways on. The full-on view is much thicker and more annoying!

Wednesday, 14th May, 2003
All seven chicks appear to be thriving. When Dad came in the box at 5.45, I went and fuelled up the mealworm feeder. Over the next half hour or so, he was returning within seconds to feed the chicks. On one occasion, he was in the box when the pair became aware of some threat. I started to capture the video and went to see what it was. I saw a jackdaw on the peanut feeder which flew off as it saw me. Dad then left and was back in a little over 10 seconds with a mealworm which Mum fed to the chick, collected the faecal sack and swallowed it.
There are two videos today. The one linked to the picture shows the pair waiting for the threat to disappear. It is 9 seconds long and 216k. As Dad leaves, you can almost hear Mum say, "Take care, dear!" Anthropomorphic or what?
The second video is linked to the camcorder icon. It shows the feed. It lasts for 18 seconds and is 376k.

Thursday, 15th May, 2003
First thing in the morning, I always want to check that I can see seven beaks. This is getting easier now, as the chicks get darker. In the picture, you can see five and a half gapes and two closed mouths. I filled the mealworm feeder at 6.15 and again at 8.00. It was pretty busy for a while. I expect the cold weather makes them hungry. It was only 5°C for the past two mornings at 6 o'clock.
I have attached the video to go with this screen shot. Watch how they all sit up the instant they hear Mum shout, "Sit UP!" It 352k and lasts for 11 seconds. I have had to use a better quality sound setting so that you can hear the chicks as well as Mum.

Friday, 16th May, 2003
It's horrible this morning. The greyness comes right down to the ground and it's wet, windy and not too warm; 9°C at 6.00am. I filled the feeder and sat back to watch the action. There was a feverish shuttle session which lasted till 6.25. The video that is linked to the picture is rather a large one as it shows Dad come in to feed, but whilst stretching for the faecal sac, the female comes in and he drops it! The female supplies a huge worm to a chick and she can't retrieve her sac as Dad is now in her way! Fortunately, they both did their own clearing up! The video is over 800k but lasts 22 seconds. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Saturday, 17th May, 2003
It's a little brighter and warmer today. Yesterday, the female spent some considerable time enlarging the nest cup for the chicks as they grow. The nest cup is now more like the Tardis, in that it is bigger inside than it is out! The chicks are disappearing under the rim of the cup.
Also yesterday, I was attracted to Viv's monitor by the rumpus going on inside. Both parents were extremely concerned about the health of one of the chicks. It had been given what appeared to be a huge spider; one of those with a huge abdomen. Both birds watched anxiously as the chick struggled and appeared to be choking on it. It looked as if it was trying to swallow a football!
Eventually, the female removed it, with some difficulty, and gave it another chick who was able to swallow it. During this change, Dad left for more food.
I have indicated the 'spider' in the mouth of the second chick. There is a video of the complete event. I have removed the sound so as to reduce the size of the clip. It is 32 seconds long and 408k.

I topped up the mealworms a few minutes ago and then took a little video of the tits using it. If you click on the picture, there is a video showing one of the birds going in, selecting a worm and then exiting to go to the hawthorn tree to butcher it. David Jones has some super pictures explaining how they prepare the worms.
This link will take you to his gruesome pictures which show how they pull the heads off the mealworms and then drag out the gut. I assume this is because they are full of bran and the like?

http://www.mybitoftheplanet.com/y2k/bluetits/bt_fly.htm

I have frozen the picture for a couple of seconds as the bird exits.

Sunday, 18th May, 2003
Whilst all is rosy in my box, I have learned of some distressing events from other boxes. The latest was from a newish cyber-buddy, Daphne, in Hertfordshire She has a camera in her bluetit box and has been watching the chicks grow. They hatched on Wednesday and she became concerned on Friday when she had not seen the male for over 4 hours. She decided to help out by posting mealworms through the nest hole. The female would take each one out of the box to 'process' (See David Jones' link above) and return with the worms.
By Saturday morning, it was clear that Dad was 'missing in action; presumed eaten!' Since then, the chicks have been growing weaker and Daphne has turned off the camera as the sight was too distressing. I think we can all understand that?
It does not seem to have been a great year for many of the box-watchers. The finished nest in the box of David Jones was abandoned before laying and the box in Howard's garden at www.beautifulbritain.co.uk , that fledged 11 chicks last year, was not even used this year!
Also, Rod Ormston at :- http://www.zebedee88.clara.co.uk has also had trouble. His box of great-tits are fledging but he has discovered that there are two dead ones at the base of the box. I wonder if they were the ones that were caught by the cat that he witnessed with its paw in the nest-hole?

Meanwhile, all is well in my box. The chicks are getting much darker as the feathers begin to show and they have been preening themselves. Both parents run a shuttle-bus service to the mealworm feeder for about ten minutes before taking a rest for 20 to 30 minutes. They then start again.

A few weeks ago, I began having a problem with the badgers that we feed every night. At least one of them had discovered the bins of bird food and peanuts that I keep on the patio. For three consecutive mornings, the sunflower seed-bin was knocked over and some of the contents missing. I started strapping all three bins together with bungy cord to make it impossible to knock all three over. However, one of the badgers learned how to remove the lid of the peanut bin and was helping himself! If he'd actually gone in head first, I doubt if he would have been able to get out!
Plan 'B' was to put all three bins on the garden bench with the bungy around them and secure them to the slats. This was fine till last night when I refilled one of the bins and forgot to tie it in with the others. Result: this morning at 5.15, I was on the patio with a dustpan and brush replacing the wild bird seed to the bin!
Our dog fox has also started to scent mark the pot of wild geraniums on the patio each day! Lovely bouquet!

Monday, 19th May, 2003
The chicks are now looking very dark and they spend a good deal of time scratching and preening. They are also getting louder in their demands to be fed. This morning, at 6.00, I recorded 19 feeds in 5 minutes. The nineteenth took a long time to be accepted as they were all full by now. That's almost three each!
I put more worms out at about 9.00am. On one occasion, an adult came in with two mealworms in its beak. One chick took both, swallowed one, had the other removed and then received it back again once its mouth was empty. Click on the picture for a larger version and on the icon for the video. It is 584k and lasts for 20 seconds.

Tuesday, 20th May, 2003
There was even more doom and gloom today. I had an email from Mike Humberston who also has a bird-box camera. He has given me permission to use the text from his posting to the birdwatching newsgroup. (uk.rec.birdwatcing)

Monday evening

On Tuesday, last week, the eggs which were being incubated by a Blue Tit in one of my nest boxes which I had fitted with a miniature video camera started to hatch. Four chicks emerged on that day and I witnessed on my TV monitor the female parent eating the egg shells left by two of them. The new hatchlings are such weird looking little things with their large gape, the dark discs where their eyes are developing and a wisp of fuzz on the top of their heads. Just after it hatched one of the chicks lifted its head for a moment and still had a piece of shell attached to the top of its head like a hat.
Hatching continued on Wednesday (2 chicks) and Thursday (1 chick, I think) giving a total of seven chicks (although they were quite difficult to count and I thought there might have been eight in total).
For the first few days, the male bird brought all the food, commencing delivery just after 5 a.m. each morning. He passed the food to the female and she fed it to the chicks. If he tried to feed them directly then she would take it from him. On the first day the chicks took some encouragement to eat - the parent would have to touch each hatchling's beak with the food before it would gape.
As she did this she would make a clucking sound. After the first day the chicks would usually gape without encouragement as soon as the food was held above them although the parent would sometimes need to get their attention, particularly at the start of the day and she would do this with the clucking sound whereupon they would all sit up and gape. Food included caterpillars, other larvae, lots of aphids, particularly on the first few days, spiders and the occasional beetle. Strangely they didn't take the chicks any of my nearby supply of mealworms although the adult birds did eat some themselves.
Rate of growth of the chicks has been amazingly fast and they have been becoming more and more energetic. On the first day the chicks were completely silent but on the second there were some faint peeping sounds which have got progressively louder on each day. Since the weekend the peeping has been going on almost continuously during daylight hours, even when the female parent was sitting on top of the chicks. During the last few days they would also push up through her feathers when she sat on them, forcing her to frequently rearrange them in the nest and settle down on them again.
Since the start of the weekend the female has also been fetching food and the male has been feeding the chicks directly, feeding activity being pretty intense for much of the day.
Feather development also became noticeable over the weekend with dark bands appearing of the tops of the chicks' heads, down their backbones and on their wings. Today there are noticeable feathers growing on their wings and the larger chicks are regularly stretching their wings as well as using their legs to propel themselves around the nest cup and climb over siblings to get a feeding advantage. The larger chicks had also opened their eyes.
Things were going pretty well with the development of even the smallest chick progressing rapidly. However, tonight it looks as if it is all ending in tears.
This evening I noticed that although the chicks were making a lot of noise there wasn't much feeding activity going on. The male parent came into the nest box a few times with food and fed the chicks but there wasn't any sign of the female although she had been alternately sitting and feeding during the late afternoon - on previous days she had settled on top of them by about 7 p.m.
Dusk came and she still hadn't turned up. As it got dark the chicks quietened down and settled into a huddle in the middle of the nest cup but there was no parent on top to keep them warm and it's quite cold tonight. Since then, the chicks have periodically rearranged themselves, but after about 10.30 p.m. I noticed one of the chicks had keeled over onto its back although it was still breathing but making a sort of clicking noise as it did so. Gradually all movement in the nest has ceased. The last movement was by the largest chick, also on its back with its beak pointing upwards, about an hour ago. I suspect they have succumbed to the cold.

Tuesday Morning

This morning the chicks are all dead from the cold. They haven't moved since I made my post during the night.
The male parent visited the box at about his usual time, 5.15 a.m. He made a call from outside the box and then came in carrying a large caterpillar. He came up to the nest cup and presented his caterpillar to the dead chicks. He then went to the entrance to the box and waited on the anti-predator baffle just inside the entrance hole. After a while he came back to the chicks and tried presenting the caterpillar again. When he didn't get a response he made a cheeping sound at the chicks, waited and then returned to the entrance. After about 10 seconds he came back to the chicks and again tried presenting the caterpillar and cheeping at them. Then he left.
Strangely, at 6.25 a.m. the female came back to the box. I have learned to distinguish her from the male as she is much fluffier and less sleek than the male, particularly around her rear end. She also came in with a caterpillar and stood over the chicks. Then she made the clucking noise that I have previously heard her make when she has wanted to get the chicks to take the food.
Since then each parent has been back once, again with food. The male again came in after first calling from outside and cheeped at the chicks when they didn't respond to his food but this time he quickly left. The female again stood over the chicks and made her clucking sound a few times before leaving.
Yesterday I thought that the female had probably been predated. However, now it seems that the death of the chicks has been a result of a failure of her parenting instincts.
What a sad end to all the hard work that she and her mate have been putting into raising their brood over the past few weeks.

--
Mike Humberston
Barnes, London

Thanks, Mike
I am pleased to say that my chicks are doing well and will soon be in for a treat as my new supply of mealworms should arrive shortly. Several have their eyes open, now.