Blue tits showing interest

[Stomperone]

Last year I put up a nest box.. It was too late to expect anything to happen with it so I have been waiting and watching this year for any birds to show an interest..
This morning I spotted 2 blue tits examining it .. the first clung to the entrance and nosed in but the second one looked inside and actually got inside for about 10 seconds.. Does this look promising? or am i getting excited for nothing..

Cheers
Pete

[thebeard]

can't get anything more promising than having them go inside and have a good sniff around! only time will tell!

[Pigeon feather]

That's a good start! they have found the nest box and are taking it into consideration they may or may not use it though it depends on what other sites there are near by and how it is sited i.e correct direction away from predators etc they usually just go around checking and then make a decision, I had a pair about a year ago find the nest box on my garage all was going well they even started to build a nest only to abandon it half way through it may be that the nest box was in the wrong position though as it was a south facing wall so they may have realised that though the wood was very thick, it has now been moved to the front of the house on a north facing wall under the eaves and I have had interest but I'm thinking this may be a bit too dark and cold! still I will leave it here permanently now.

[Elizabeth B]

It certainly looks promising - I hope things work out for you!

We think that our Boxes 1 and 2 have been "claimed" by bluetits - but Box 3 (which has a bigger hole) is still being inspected by blue and great tits.

A first for us - there's now a short video that we've called "Brief Encounter", showing how the male reacts when he's in the box and the female arrives:

YouTube - Bluetit brief encounter

Another first today - the male in Box 2 brought in some nesting material today, and presented it to the female!!! (Details on our website).

[Stomperone]

thanks to all .. I think I might be out of luck .. I have seen no activity since .. but i havent given up yet

[mrbright]

hi. following on as a novice, my wife had a gimmicky nest box put up in our tiny garden for decoration about 4 years ago, we have a tiny councilhouse garden, any way about a week ago we saw a bluetit investigating, the box was just sitting on an outside table, i put it up in a bush right next to our well used backdoor about 2 metres up (the only place to site it) 1st day i saw a bluetit and great tit investigating, since then every am i have seen bluetit activity.
are these the same bluetits, or will several visit this site before flying on elsewhere, we have never had birds nesting in the garden, but just to see activity right outside backdoor is great..any suggestions welcomed.

ps this gimmicky box , for some reason has 2 storeys with 2 holes top and bottom.

[Elizabeth B]

Originally Posted by mrbright

ps this gimmicky box , for some reason has 2 storeys with 2 holes top and bottom.

Two storeys with a floor in between, making two separate compartments - or two holes and a single compartment?

[mrbright]

Originally Posted by elizabeth b

two storeys with a floor in between, making two separate compartments - or two holes and a single compartment?

two seperate floors.

[SheffieldLass]

I've put a blue tit box up and a sparrow terrace for three this spring, plus there are quite a few pre-existing holes under my roof tiles. The male blue tit was roosting during the winter in one hole, and I suspect this was the original preferred nest place to be. The female was roosting in the blue tit box which was then on the ground. But now with these boxes up the pair seem to be shunning the blue tit box and the hole under the tiles, and have gone for the centre residence of the sparrow terrace. The tree sparrows have also shown an interest ... in fact they put a few grassy/twiggy bits in the central residence first. One pair of tree sparrows is making a nest under the roof tiles just a foot above the sparrow terrace. And another pair of tree sparrows seems interested in one of the side residences of the terrace. It'll be interesting to see what the final nesting preferences/hierarchies are. And whether the blue tits enjoy communal living with the tree sparrows.

[Elizabeth B]

Originally Posted by mrbright

two seperate floors.

I'm wondering if the two "compartments" are big enough for one of them to be used by bluetits? (They won't use both).

Our bluetit boxes have an internal base measurement of 13 X 15 cm, with a depth of 18cm. From the bottom of the entrance hole to the flooor it's 12cm.

How do these sizes compare?