cagey blue tits and strange dance.

[mrbright]

my bluetits have been nesting quite happily for 2 weeks now, today however they were both extremely nevous entering the nest taking far more time than usual, as its sunny here today there is much noise and commotion coming from neighbouring gardens, anyway the male eventually entered and checked the box out, with the female bluetit outside doing a strange dance with wings half flapping constantly, the male left and female went straight in and started hammering away as per normal, has anyone seen this strange dance before.
or is it just a nervous twitch?

[shaun a]

It may be that the eggs the female has laid have actually hatched,incubation is only about 2 weeks so its quite possible that they now have young.That may explain why both parents are wary of their nest,they will get used to them very quickly.If you see either of them carrying food into the nest then you will know for sure

[RKB]

How are you sexing them? They are very difficult, even in the hand.

They also frequently nest in trios (one male, two females and two nests), so you might not always have a male-female pair hanging around. The wing flapping thing is an anxiety display, and dominance is swapped over at the nest site - females are boss.

What might have happened is that one original bird has died (happens to many of them at this time), and another new bird is checking things out.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by shaun a

It may be that the eggs the female has laid have actually hatched,incubation is only about 2 weeks so its quite possible that they now have young.That may explain why both parents are wary of their nest,they will get used to them very quickly.If you see either of them carrying food into the nest then you will know for sure

Too early for young.

Females also flutter the wings when demanding food from the male, though. They do this just before and during laying and incubation, to get more energy, and give begging calls like juveniles.

[mrbright]

i was sexing them by the fact i thought it was the female that has been hammering away for the last week or so , i did not realise they both did it, the box is less than 3 feet from my direct eyesight, through chink in curtain, and you are correct i have seen them together many times, and i have not got a clue which is which.
more strange behaviour, as i have a gimmicky box set up as a maisonette they have all but ignored top flat, however the bird that was hammering this morning, suddenly moved upstairs and hammered for 5 minutes or so, before returning to the bottom flat and continuing hammering, i wish i had a camera box, excuse spelling but hammering is driving me to distraction.

[mrbright]

photo hopefully of gimmicky box.

[SheffieldLass]

If they are still hammering away at the box I would think that they are still making the nest, preparing the box and haven't started laying yet. The fluttering wings bit is flirtation, and the female does look like a youngster when she begs for food. Well she does need to check out he will be a good dad for all those potential beaks to feed. You may also see the male blue tit doing a strange flight, wings a-whirr, at this time of the year, which I presume is a display flight, to show off his prowess ....