HIGHLIGHTS
- Pair of blue tits are thoroughly inspecting the nest box
WELCOME to my nest box camera! The nest box was installed inside a purpose-built nest box for great tits and blue tits back in March 2021. I’m located in Koekelare, Belgium.
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Within a few hours of mounting the nest box back in March 2021 the first bird already came along to inspect it, a great tit. About two weeks after the nest camera started recording, a pair of blue tits moved in. Nest building was already at its finishing stages when an intruding (and bigger) great tit attacked one of the pair in the nest box. Unfortunately, the pair consequently deserted the box and no egg laying took place in the 2021 breeding season.
We cleaned out the nest box after the breeding season ended.
To our delight a great tit entered the nest box five times on the 1st of November. It decided the nest box was perfect for roosting during the colder winter nights. We assume that the same great tit came back every evening, without missing a single night, until the 15th of March. That evening it also came back at its usual time, but a female blue tit was already in the nest box, after a pair had started nest building the day before.
A squabble ensued between the ready-to-roost blue tit and the resident great tit. The great tit chose the nest box for its roosting spot for a staggering 134 nights straight and probably would have stayed even longer if it hadn’t been chased out.
Blue tit facts
• The female makes the nest on her own with little or no help from the male.
• The nest is made of moss and bits of plants. The egg cup is lined with soft materials such as fur, soft feathers or wool.
• A pair can have up to two broods a year, but one brood is the usual.
• The clutch size ranges between 7-12 eggs, but can be as large as 16 eggs!
• The female starts incubating the eggs about a day before the clutch is complete. It takes about two weeks of incubating the eggs before they hatch.
• The young blue tits fledge after being fed caterpillars in the nest for about 18-21 days.
• Once fledged the adult pair continues feeding the fledglings for several weeks.
