Bird Box Joy!....

[Red Robin]

My daughter bought me a Gardman wild bird box for christmas and we have a 60ft+ Leylander tree in our garden which already has nested Woodpigeons (raided by a Sparrowhawk in the late summer) and various other birds as far as I know.

I have placed the nest box 3m off the ground well towards the centre of the multi-trunked tree and facing northwest. Absolutely no direct sun and sheltered from the wind - We had very high winds yesterday.

I have also positioned it so I can see it from my kitchen window, especially with binoculars. Within only 3 days of fixing, I have already seen 2 Blue Tits check it out as far as sticking their heads in the hole to look inside and 1 Great Tit just inspect the entrance hole.

I wasn't expecting any interest for many months at best but feel very encouraged that some may adopt it.

Am I right in thinking that some birds may use it as a winter shelter until one decides to use it as a nest for eggs?

Is it always the female bird which selects the nest site?

Thanks

[C J Smallman]

Originally Posted by Red Robin

Am I right in thinking that some birds may use it as a winter shelter until one decides to use it as a nest for eggs?

Did you ever see the Johnny Kingdom series on BBC4 he had footage of a nestbox being used by over a dozen Wrens at one time during the winter

Maybe someone else can remember the correct number.

Chris.

[Red Robin]

^^^^
No, I never saw that prog. It's nice to know that my nest box can offer winter shelter and not just egg hatching.

[Acipiter]

18 Chris.

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by Red Robin

Is it always the female bird which selects the nest site?

Thanks

With blue tits it seems to be. From watching my blue tits over the years the male seems to select what he thinks will be the best site, and hogs it over the winter as a roost site, then lets her nest in it if she wants. But she doesn't always choose it. I had a colour ringed female blue tit, and the first year she chose the box. The second year she nested in a hole under the roof tiles, but initially stared a nest in both. The third year she was back nesting in the box. And the forth year was under the roof again, but she didn't survive the season, disappeared shortly after the eggs hatched. The male (whether he was the same one though) always spent the non-breeding season roosting in the box, and the breeding season if she didn't use it.

With blackbirds the pair seem to have a bit of a discussion, with the female taking the lead ... Again, another colour ringed female ... she seemed to investigate a site (I noticed this particularly with a wisteria growing up my neighbours house wall, a place where the blackbirds never normally went into), then the male investigated the same spot shortly after (disappearing in from different angles, and rootling around), and then she started building, and had a successful nest there, in just the spot the male 'rootled' around in.

With wrens the male makes a few nests and the female chooses, and finishes it off by lining with feathers. With house sparrows the male bags an area with grassy bits and displays with feathers in his beak outside the spot, hoping to attract a female who then inspects it.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

I had a colour ringed female blue tit, and the first year she chose the box. The second year she nested in a hole under the roof tiles, but initially stared a nest in both.

When was this bird recorded (what year)? There has been no recent colour ringing of blue tits in this area, so this bird may have travelled some distance to your garden. We only colour ring tree sparrow's.

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

When was this bird recorded (what year)? There has been no recent colour ringing of blue tits in this area, so this bird may have travelled some distance to your garden. We only colour ring tree sparrow's.

That was when I was in Sheffield. Andrew Cannon (formerly of BTO Garden Bird watch) did a lot of colour ringing of garden birds there between 2004-2006ish when he was doing his PhD. Luckily my house was in the square kilometer that he was researching, and he did quite a bit of ringing in the garden across the road from me . It was great having them colour ringed as I got to know individual birds and see their different characters and get a real insight into their life histories. And because I submitted all the sightings to him, he kindly gave me the location and dates of other sightings of the same birds, which was very interesting. I've still to give him the very last sighting , of a male chaffinch, who was still there when I left in 2009 (it is in a diary that is still in a box that I've not yet got round to unpacking ...) - that bird might have been getting on a bit. Wonder if it is still there?

[Dogghound]

Ahh... Cheers. That makes sense now