Blue tit nest box query!!

[shiffty]

Hi all,,,,please could someone answer or come up with a theory on my blue tit nest box....ive had the box up since early january and installed a small nest box camera to watch any progress in nestingbox ...well about 3 weeks ago a blue tit came to the box and started to build a nest she was there every day up until about 5 days ago ,ive had the camera running and have not seen a thing for days now.... what has happened to her? does she go away to breed then come back to lay the eggs? the nest is fully built , complete mystery to me !!
many thanks for any help ...

[Kayleigh]

Not really sure but keep watching she may come back and start laying or she could have been predated or something else might have happened to her or she had just decided this is not the place for her have you cats or other predators in the area close to the box..
I had blue tits all through the winter in all my boxes they went into one in spring then suddenly disappeared so I think they chose another site..
All you can do is wait and see..

[bigdave60dog]

Possible predator or has your box developed a tiny hole anywhere? It only take a tiny bit of a draught to put the off in the early stages.
A silly question but- are you sure that it was a Tit (did you see it? Male wrens build loads of nests then take the Misses round to see which one she fancies before completing the chosen box. I have had that more than once when I used to put boxes up.
Dave

[forasher]

I guess there are some predators around your next box,the safety is always the biggest concern for birds.

[RKB]

It might just be laying. They lay eggs in the early morning, and then bury them in the nest lining. You often wont know they're there until just before incubation starts. During that time they only visit the box briefly during the day.

Or it might be delaying laying, which they often do (one of my boxes was lined for a week before laying started), or it might have been killed, which they often are (Sparrowhawks can take up to 25% of breeding tits).

[Acipiter]

Where did you get 25% from RKB?

[RKB]

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Condor, 80:419-422
The Cooper Ornithological Society 1978
EFFECTS OF NESTING SPARROWHAWKS ON NESTING TITS
TIMOTHY A. GEER

"Since 1976 I have been examining Sparrowhawk
(Accipiter nisus) predation upon Great
Tits (Parus major) and Blue Tits (P. caeru-
Zeus) in Wytham Woods, Oxford, England.
The Wytham tit population has been studied
since 1947 (Perrins 1965) and virtually 100%
of the Great Tits and over 75% of the Blue Tits
nest in nest boxes which are regularly checked
and in which all of the young are banded.
The extensive banding program has allowed
me to recover bands of eaten individuals from
the hawk nests and thus to analyze the predator’s
effect on the prey population. The Sparrowhawks
are major predators of the tits,
taking 20-25% of the population during the
breeding season."

Also see this: Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus predation and Blue Tit Parus caeruleus adult annual survival rate - DHONDT - 2008 - Ibis - Wiley Online Library

Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus predation and Blue Tit Parus caeruleus adult annual survival rate

ANDRÉ A. DHONDT, BART KEMPENAERS, JEAN CLOBERT

Ibis 2008.

"The adult annual survival rate of breeding Blue Tits Parus caeruleus decreased from 0.485 to 0.376 after a pair of Sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus started to breed in the study plot in 1990, whereas in two neighbouring plots, survival rates did not change. This decrease was likely caused by the Sparrowhawk predation mainly in spring."

[Acipiter]

I had 20% so not far out, thank you so much for the links RKB

[rossy]

possible what has already been put, but for the second year running , blue tits were building in one of my boxes, then they stopped, and yesterday i saw the reason , bumble bees have moved in again, so keep an eye out , rossy.

[shiffty]

Thanx all for your help , the great news is that I checked the cam
Last night and there she was ,, amazing, she was sat upon
7 eggs ,, let's hope they all survive , Thanx again all