blue tits building

[rossy]

the blue tits have begun to build their nest and have been at it all morning, they have decided to use the box just outside my back door, after watching them inspect the box on the other side of the garden for weeks they have chose the other, anyway hope all of you on here start to see some action and how busy they are, rossy one happy chappy

[Dan Salter]

On my last check about a week and a half ago 4 out of my 30 boxes have already got the early stages of blue tit nests

Its all go now

[Elizabeth B]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

On my last check about a week and a half ago 4 out of my 30 boxes have already got the early stages of blue tit nests

Its all go now

30 boxes?!!!!! How big is your garden?

Our birds haven't settled down to serious nest building yet - the bluetits in Boxes 1 and 2 are still removing moss as well as bringing it in. Box 3 is still being inspected by blue and great tits, but hasn't been "claimed" so far.

This is how 1 and 2 looked about half an hour ago.

[mrbright]

have now seen 3 loads of nesting material going in by my blue tits, the hen is continually pecking at the entrance hole, any ideas? i am permanently watching entrance hole, and now elizabeths 3 boxes, totally hooked on bluetits.

[rossy]

thats just what they do mrbright to make the hole to suit, looks promising for you, and i dont think that the bluetits will get it wrong as spring was later so now something has made them click, soon the buds will be leaves and on them their favourite food. rossy

[Elizabeth B]

This is a message posted by a staff member on the RSPB Forum:

In the wildlife enquiries team here at the RSPB we often get asked 'why is that bird pecking at the entrance hole?'

A good question, it is certainly nothing to worry about and you don't need to go out there to make the hole bigger! Many birds including blue and great tits start prospecting potential nest sites over winter. Part of this behaviour seems to include pecking around the entrance hole. Now I've heard a few theories as to why they would do it including to give them a better foot hold, to let other birds know it is occupied or it is a ritualised behaviour. The thinking behind the latter is that birds often have to peck around the edge of natural tree holes to make them suitable, this behaviour is then also carried over to artificial sites even though the hole should be the right size. Personally I like to think of it as being a bit like whenever humans move into a new place, we just like to make it our own, maybe it is the same for birds.

[mrbright]

thanks elizabeth b, i like hanging pictures in my home, and from the very loud woodpecker impersonations coming from inside the box these last two days, i think they must be hammering pictures to the wall, or laying carpets.lol.

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth B

30 boxes?!!!!! How big is your garden?

Our birds haven't settled down to serious nest building yet - the bluetits in Boxes 1 and 2 are still removing moss as well as bringing it in. Box 3 is still being inspected by blue and great tits, but hasn't been "claimed" so far.

This is how 1 and 2 looked about half an hour ago.

Dont panic!...i have two sparrow terraces on our wooden lean-to garage (6 boxes) plus a tit box....3 more tit boxes in the back garden, plus a wren box, another wren box in the front garden...all the rest (various tit, sparrow, wren, robin, starling, treecreeper and flycatcher boxes) are all in a small woodland next to the house
Im going to do my weekly check in a mo so ill report back on occupancy

[Ne!l]

All makes my 1 box look a bit pathetic! Hope you get lucky in some of those Dan. Must be interesting to watch the nesting habits of so many different types of birdie.

The Blue Tit using our box started to bring stuff in on the 19th March and it's filled the box up quite a bit. Over the last few days though her nest building has stopped and she has just been going in and out. Hopefully she is just taking a short break!

She has done a lot of "hammering" on the drainage holes in the base of our box. We even saw her "peel" some fine strands of wood off the box. This behaviour seems to have stopped after bringing in the nesting material.

Good luck to everyone!

[mrbright]

maybe my one gimmicky bird box will make you feel better, luckily these blue tits dont know the meaning of gimmicky.