Help!

[May]

We have blue tits nesting in our garden.

We have regularly seen the pair right from them checking out the nest box, to bringing in nesting and going in and out with food. They're both very distinct looking birds so we know them well.

I last saw the female about five minutes ago, going off on a food run .. in fact she just came back now. The last I saw of the male was first thing this morning, about 9am .. he came back with a beakful of caterpillars, went to go in, changed his mind, did this a further two times and I haven't seen him since. The female is sticking quite close to the nest box and can be seen regularly going in and out and sitting on the fence next to the nesting box.

Is this normal behaviour for a male? If she has been abandoned or something has happened to her mate, is there anything we can do to help? The bird table and fully stocked feeders are literally on her doorstep.

I would very much appreciate any help.

[Wild-Woman]

It may be that the chicks are preparing to leave the nest now.Our school blue tits are only a couple of days away from leaving.If the female is still feeding but sitting close to the nestbox she may be trying to encourage them to come out. As for the male,I'm not sure. Maybe his job is done, but there is always the possibility that he has come to a sad end. They are predated by magpies,crows and sparrowhawks. This is probably the trickiest time for the chicks, actually leaving the nest without being spotted by predators. Keep your fingers crossed that all will end well and please let us know the outcome.It may also discourage predators if you show you're around while the blue tits leave. ww

[May]

She's definitely feeding and staying very close by, sitting on the fence chirping a lot .. what bothered me was the male was about this morning but I haven't seen him since

As I don't have a nest-cam, I have no clue as to how old the babies are .. I just hope you're right, I hate to think anything has happened to him.

I shall keep an eye out anyway .. see if I see any further activity.

Thank you for replying.

[Gill Catton]

I've seen behaviour similar to this in a dipper where it arrived with a beak full of food landed on a rock around 10m from the nest and it kept making a move to go to the nest and then it would change it's mind and hop to the other end of the rock, it kept this up for a good few minutes until I realised that it was probably worried about drawing my attention to the nest but it's urge to feed this mouthfull to it's babies was so strong that it was reluctant to fly away. I moved away and later saw it hurtle back upstream empty beaked! it may be that he had spotted you and faced the same dilemma. It may also be that he's still visiting the box when you're not looking. The best thing to do to be certain would be to watch continually from around 7am until nine as this is one of the peak feeding times and if he's still around he should visit. Other possibilities iare that the young are close to fledging and the adults are visiting less frequently to encourage their babies to leave or yes perhaps he's been eaten or the young may be dead (this is the circle of life....) the female should be capable of raising some or all of the young especially if you are providing food for her anyway.
Good luck - hope this is of some help!!!
Gill

[May]

Thank you for replying Gill.

The nest box is on our fence, facing in toward the house and thus protected from the weather .. I watch from across the living room, I stay away from the window at all costs. In fact, my husband gets peeved when I accuse him of scaring the birds away! This pair have flitted back, forth, back, forth on a regular basis until today. There were no other birds about, I was a good distance away but he seemed rather hesitant to go in. Of course, he may well have snuck in when I wasn't looking but I'm usually up at 7am and am used to seeing them come and go all throughout the day, though as you say, the morning is the most hectic. As the routine seems to have been broken, I've had my eye on the box from a distance all day pretty much and last saw him this morning.

I do hear the babies .. whenever I go into the garden they start up but it's so noisey out there today .. there's a bird making a big old racket on a telephone wire which is drowning out any other bird sounds.

[Gill Catton]

How long have they been using the box? Incubation is usually 16 days with a further three weeks ish being fed in the nest.
Maybe they are about due to leave?

[May]

Well I first saw them investigating the box, April 9th.

They started tidying up the entrance, April 12th.

Nesting material started going in, April 15th.

They seemed to disappear from about the 20th through to 28th then they reappeared. I was still seing small bits of nest material going in for a day or so.

At the beginning of May I stared seeing the male taking food in and the female could be seen often on the fence for short periods of time and then they were both going in and out at the rate of knots frequently.

It's hard to say when nest building stopped.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by May

Well I first saw them investigating the box, April 9th.

They started tidying up the entrance, April 12th.

Nesting material started going in, April 15th.

They seemed to disappear from about the 20th through to 28th then they reappeared. I was still seing small bits of nest material going in for a day or so.

At the beginning of May I stared seeing the male taking food in and the female could be seen often on the fence for short periods of time and then they were both going in and out at the rate of knots frequently.

It's hard to say when nest building stopped.

Sounds like they may well be trying to get them to fledge then, maybe the male was trying to wave his mouthful of food enticingly to the babies!!! And has dropped off on the 'room service' to try to get them hungry enough to want to leave!

[May]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Sounds like they may well be trying to get them to fledge then, maybe the male was trying to wave his mouthful of food enticingly to the babies!!! And has dropped off on the 'room service' to try to get them hungry enough to want to leave!

I really do hope so.

He would poke just his head in, then come back out .. poke it back in a little while later with me willing him to go in, but he flew off, did it once more then gone. She did this as well a little later.

I really hope this is what it is.

[May]

Update.

After dad left, mum disappeared too. We kept a sharp eye out for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

After much umm-ing and ahh-ing, we sought advice from a few sources and the crux of it was, that if she didn't return (and we had weeks of seeing the parents return regularly, in fact, to think about them was to magically make them appear - it was that frequent) that we should open up the nest box to see what was what. We were assured that if the parents were to return, they would enter the box, regardless as to whether human hands had touched it or not.

I spent the entire day watching out for mum as I was that worried. I had a chair set up in full view of the nest box (I could see the box easily without bothering any other birds in the garden so it wasn't me that kept them away) but my vigil was fruitless, she didn't return, so after some more watching and no re-appearance, my husband investigated .. sadly the babies had all died. They were unfeathered, eyes closed, tiny things really. There were mites in there too. We sought further advice and were told to remove the nest and thoroughly wash out the box and let it dry. The babies were buried with their nest .. we had come so far with this nesting pair and took much delight in hearing the babies twittering whenever we went into the garden, that this felt the right thing to do. We cleaned out the nest box and felt incredibly saddened. One person that advised us, voiced an opinion that the female may have been just a youngster herself and didn't realise her babies had died which was why she kept returning even after they had died .. she was waiting for them to lift their heads and thinking about it, I'm sure this was why the male left .. he looked a little rough around the edges, we're sure he had more experience and had left as he knew they weren't going to lift their heads, unlike poor little Mum.

We saw nothing of either parents for the rest of that day ..

Anyway,the next day, I was woken by the familiar twittering of mum on the fence by the nestbox .. it literally broke my heart. I have no idea where she had gone .. just a feeling that she must have had some inkling that something was amiss, so was disappearing.
I spent the day crying my eyes out. She spent a good couple of minutes there calling, it was just terrible. She then went to have something to eat from the table .. then came back later.

We returned the nest box when it was dry and next morning she was back, peeked inside, then went to feed again.

She still feeds in our garden and has the chance glance inside the box, almost out of habit .. it's terribly sad. I've had to remind myself that her babies had died, they had mites, to let her keep returning to a mite ridden nest box of sadly deceased chicks would have done her no good at all.

So, not a good start to our nesting bird experiences

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by May

Update.

After dad left, mum disappeared too. We kept a sharp eye out for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

After much umm-ing and ahh-ing, we sought advice from a few sources and the crux of it was, that if she didn't return (and we had weeks of seeing the parents return regularly, in fact, to think about them was to magically make them appear - it was that frequent) that we should open up the nest box to see what was what. We were assured that if the parents were to return, they would enter the box, regardless as to whether human hands had touched it or not.

I spent the entire day watching out for mum as I was that worried. I had a chair set up in full view of the nest box (I could see the box easily without bothering any other birds in the garden so it wasn't me that kept them away) but my vigil was fruitless, she didn't return, so after some more watching and no re-appearance, my husband investigated .. sadly the babies had all died. They were unfeathered, eyes closed, tiny things really. There were mites in there too. We sought further advice and were told to remove the nest and thoroughly wash out the box and let it dry. The babies were buried with their nest .. we had come so far with this nesting pair and took much delight in hearing the babies twittering whenever we went into the garden, that this felt the right thing to do. We cleaned out the nest box and felt incredibly saddened. One person that advised us, voiced an opinion that the female may have been just a youngster herself and didn't realise her babies had died which was why she kept returning even after they had died .. she was waiting for them to lift their heads and thinking about it, I'm sure this was why the male left .. he looked a little rough around the edges, we're sure he had more experience and had left as he knew they weren't going to lift their heads, unlike poor little Mum.

We saw nothing of either parents for the rest of that day ..

Anyway,the next day, I was woken by the familiar twittering of mum on the fence by the nestbox .. it literally broke my heart. I have no idea where she had gone .. just a feeling that she must have had some inkling that something was amiss, so was disappearing.
I spent the day crying my eyes out. She spent a good couple of minutes there calling, it was just terrible. She then went to have something to eat from the table .. then came back later.

We returned the nest box when it was dry and next morning she was back, peeked inside, then went to feed again.

She still feeds in our garden and has the chance glance inside the box, almost out of habit .. it's terribly sad. I've had to remind myself that her babies had died, they had mites, to let her keep returning to a mite ridden nest box of sadly deceased chicks would have done her no good at all.

So, not a good start to our nesting bird experiences

Oh how horrible for you an awful thing to happen. Just don't give up!! Nests do fail unfortunately nature is not kind, but the strongest will survive. This nest may have failed for any number of reasons I suspect all this cold wet weather hasn't helped all that much this year. It's also good that you've cleaned out the nest that way as you say the little female isn't drawn to spend time in a nest that may have contained disease and those mites.
You did all you could and you did a good job don't be too disheartened, she'll have another go next year - she may even try again this year.

Big hugs to you

[May]

It has been a very harsh time around here .. very wet and bitterly cold. We're a little higher up here and the weather hasn't been kind at all, in fact the winter seemed to really drag and just lately, despite the drought warnings, it's been terribly wet here in the village and surrounding areas.

We were so pleased when the pair moved in, that for this to happen, was terribly sad .. I'm such an over sensitive person anyway, that this reduced me to an absolute wreck, sometimes I think I'm not cut out for such things. We were at RHS Wisley yesterday and someone set off one of those RSPB birds that let out the specific birdcall .. it was the blue tit and that was me gone, quivery lipped in the giftshop

I doubt we will give up .. it's lovely to see the parent birds that you've been feeding bringing their babies along to your feeders, that the very idea of seeing babies emege from the nest boxes, appeals even more. I just need to be strong!

And hugs back

[Wild-Woman]

I know how you feel and I've just had a cry over a starling. Some may think it's silly to get so upset but I think it just shows your strength of feeling for wildlife.
Hope you feel better soon and do like I am at the moment and that's concentrating all my efforts at looking after the birds that made it.

Thinking of you. Julie

[May]

Thank you Julie.

As I see it, if no one notices that a creature has died, if no one feels sad that they passed on, it's almost as though their precious life never mattered and their lives did matter, they mattered a great deal. And if it's just me and a select few that mourns them, then at least we knew ..

I spent an hour the other night crying over a bumble bee that we tried to save.

I'm so very sorry to hear of the starling, but as you say, we have to concentrate on those that did make it and our garden is teeming with babies at the moment which is a real delight.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by May

Thank you Julie.

As I see it, if no one notices that a creature has died, if no one feels sad that they passed on, it's almost as though their precious life never mattered and their lives did matter, they mattered a great deal. And if it's just me and a select few that mourns them, then at least we knew ..

I spent an hour the other night crying over a bumble bee that we tried to save.

I'm so very sorry to hear of the starling, but as you say, we have to concentrate on those that did make it and our garden is teeming with babies at the moment which is a real delight.

Absolutely!!! and you have your very own understanding support group right on hand here!! What more could you ask for!! My lip wobbled for the little damselfly I saw emerged with no wings and for the dead Fox cub by the side of the road...
It's life, often not pretty but always rich, always the good to focus on to distract from the good - maybe even a hundred damsels emerged from that pond just fine and maybe the other Fox cubs learnt a very valuable lesson

[May]

It's good to find other people who are like minded.

My husband always has to think out routes we go in the car in case he saw something on the side of the road that would, as he puts it, traumatise me. Nature may be very beautiful, but it's also very cruel. You can't have the good without the bad sadly.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by May

It's good to find other people who are like minded.

My husband always has to think out routes we go in the car in case he saw something on the side of the road that would, as he puts it, traumatise me. Nature may be very beautiful, but it's also very cruel. You can't have the good without the bad sadly.

I actually think the bad makes the good better. When you realise how hard a little blue tit has had to work and then against all odds succesfully manages to raise the babies her success is even sweeter to enjoy.
Like if your new baby apple tree has no apples for three or four years but then magically has one apple that swells beautifully and remains until the autumn, that apple is just for a moment the sweetest tasting apple in the whole world. If the tree had produces apples regularly and in a reasonable number the result would have been great but not nearly as sweet I think...

[May]

Very true .. it makes it all the sweeter