Live Stream of my Bird Box - Bluetits Nesting - Chicks Hatching Now
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Soldato
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yes its a sad ending
but thats nature for you
survival rates are what they are as the ecosystem pyramid
depends on it
too many for example bluetits and they would eat too much of
something that something else needed to eat
or eat too many insects that are there to perform a certain task etc
usually the pyramid works fine unless humans interfere
or theres a natural disaster
dont let the sad ending put you off from doing it again
lot of people enjoyed your stream
hopefully nature will give you a happier ending next time
but thats nature for you
survival rates are what they are as the ecosystem pyramid
depends on it
too many for example bluetits and they would eat too much of
something that something else needed to eat
or eat too many insects that are there to perform a certain task etc
usually the pyramid works fine unless humans interfere
or theres a natural disaster
dont let the sad ending put you off from doing it again
lot of people enjoyed your stream
hopefully nature will give you a happier ending next time
Soldato
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What's the summary of how things went?
7 eggs
4 hatched
Male went missing presumed dead
Went down hill from there.
One chick crawled out of the nest cup and got stuck in a gap at the side of the nest box and died. (Seemed like a one in a million freak accident but saw it happen on someone else's feed two days later so maybe an evolutionary floor in their nest design)
Two died presumably of lack of food with the female unable to do it all herself.
Remaining chick was strongest, healthiest and oldest mum decided to abandon him and he died as a result.
Mum is also presumed to have died within 24 hours of abandoning the chick. Has not been seen since and both parents were very frequent visitors to the garden and our feeders for over 6 months.
thats pretty sad.
Soldato
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Cruel nature, thanks for the summary.
We've also got three more blackbird chicks in the back garden.
The funny thing is that although the nest is in the bushes at the back garden they love playing in my shed. Every time I leave the door open for more than a few minutes at least one of the three chicks goes in! I've got to enter very carefully and inspect very thoroughly before I lock up.
They're not scared or lost or anything they are perfectly comfortable and relaxed in there. Not sure why. Parents will never go in obviously.
They don't even want to leave when I'm in there.
The funny thing is that although the nest is in the bushes at the back garden they love playing in my shed. Every time I leave the door open for more than a few minutes at least one of the three chicks goes in! I've got to enter very carefully and inspect very thoroughly before I lock up.
They're not scared or lost or anything they are perfectly comfortable and relaxed in there. Not sure why. Parents will never go in obviously.
They don't even want to leave when I'm in there.
Soldato
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That's a big tub of lube you've got in there. 
We've also got three more blackbird chicks in the back garden.
The funny thing is that although the nest is in the bushes at the back garden they love playing in my shed. Every time I leave the door open for more than a few minutes at least one of the three chicks goes in! I've got to enter very carefully and inspect very thoroughly before I lock up.
They're not scared or lost or anything they are perfectly comfortable and relaxed in there. Not sure why. Parents will never go in obviously.
They don't even want to leave when I'm in there.
Love these two shots! Especially the second. Can tell she is up to no good! (I am right in thinking it's only the males that are black with yellow beaks, isn't it? Female black birds are actually brown if i my novice bird spotting is correct)
Thanks. You are correct but that only applies to adult black birds.
All chicks are born speckled brown (looking female) and males then malt their juvenile feathers and develop jet back feathers and their orange beak and orange ring around their eye appear as they reach maturity ready to mate.
So at this age we can't tell.
Ah I didn't realise that but I suppose that makes sense, thanks for letting me know.
Either way they are lovely birds and very lucky to get to watch that in your garden
Soldato
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You seeing any thrushes?
Those were pretty common when I was a kid but don't see many lately
Shame I can't get a camera to the end of my garden looks like we have some Jay's taken residence those are usually pretty shy and hard to see
Got some lovely colours on them
Those were pretty common when I was a kid but don't see many lately
Shame I can't get a camera to the end of my garden looks like we have some Jay's taken residence those are usually pretty shy and hard to see
Got some lovely colours on them
You have some jays in the garden? That’s amazing! They’re pretty rare here where I live but I see them occasionally. Stunning birds when they take off and you get those flashes of blue from under their wings. In my garden all we get are wood pigeons but we also have a pair of magpies who seem to be determined make a racket early in the morning but luckily I have a soft spot for covids, jackdaws particularly.
Along the river we get a lot of kingfishers and they’ll never stop to amaze me, probably my favourite local bird. The herons are nice too, surprisingly tame/used to people as they’ll happily sit on the riverbank.
Soldato
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Yeah was pretty surprised to find the jays
Only other place I have seen them here
Is the local cemetery
As all the wildlife there is very accustomed to people as they sit and feed them so the squirrels even though they are grey not red unfortunately
Will come within a foot of you
Same with the crows and wood pigeons
The Jay's won't come as close but close enough for you to get a good look at them which is still cool
Guess they are the only shy member of the covid family
We have a very large mature garden so guess that's why lucky enough to have the Jay's here
The garden does a 360 around the property and unfortunately they are where I can't set up a camera on them which
Is a shame
Love the baby blackbirds playing in the shed. They probably feel safe in there. We’ve had a young Robin hanging around who seems to be alone but doesn’t fly all that well. We’ve left him to it in the hope that he manages to get himself together and flying properly soon.
Yeah I have a feeling they're relatively shy birds. Shame as I think they're one of the nicer British birds we have! I tried to get a photo of one recently but only had my phone and the picture was trash. Our garden will be tiny but it's right on a nature reserve with a river so will hopefully give me plenty of chances to spot one on some walks.
We have lots of squirrels than you can tell are used to getting fed off of humans as they come close! Sadly I don't think I've ever seen a red squirrel it seems they greys are just a bit too big for them. Sad as I love the look of their ears.
Robins look lovely but I swear they're just ping pong ball sized personifications of fury. I see one constantly dive bomb the nextdoor neighbours cat!
Soldato
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Being Scottish though don't live there now
Have seen plenty red squirrels
There are some places can see them in England but not lots
Don't think it's because greys are bigger
I think the greys carry a disease that they are immune to but reds aren't
Plus reds only eat green acorns not mature acorns
So if the greys get most of the green acorns it puts reds in trouble
But think the greys can still eat the mature acorns so they have an advantage
And Robins other drawback they like to start singing at 3am
My they are loud for such a small bird
Got one sits right outside my window and roughly 3am to 4am sings it head off
Could happily strangle the little bugger
Sometimes lol
edit
just realised i said covid earlier instead of corvid lmao
talk about a Freudian slip lol
Last edited:
Just had four Bluetit fledglings and two parents on the suet cage. Didn't manage to get a picture but will keep the camera by the window.
Having jays must be good. Think I've only seen one in my life.
Agree with the robins comment. They can be so hit and miss. Last week so saw three adults on a branch together. Totally not bothered. Yet they can be so aggressively territorial when they need to be.
We have a nature reserve where you can go and walk among red squirrels and you'll see one every 2-3 mins which is lovely. Not sure I've ever seen a red one in the wild other than at that reserve which, i mean its huge, but it's up to you whether they're wild or not.
Having jays must be good. Think I've only seen one in my life.
Agree with the robins comment. They can be so hit and miss. Last week so saw three adults on a branch together. Totally not bothered. Yet they can be so aggressively territorial when they need to be.
We have a nature reserve where you can go and walk among red squirrels and you'll see one every 2-3 mins which is lovely. Not sure I've ever seen a red one in the wild other than at that reserve which, i mean its huge, but it's up to you whether they're wild or not.