Hello. I'm new to the forum. I would like to know whether anyone who is providing a nesting box for blue tits has noticed the box being vacated quite suddenly? I don't have a camera in it, but for a week up until the 15th of May 2023, I noticed both parents going to and fro with food all day, and I could hear the baby birds inside the box. On the 15th, I saw several heads peaking out at the entrance to the box. Now, on the 16th, there is no activity at all around the box, and it is silent. I have not seen the adult blue tits at the feeders, where before they were daily visitors. They are nowhere to be seen around the garden. Is it possible that both adults and fledglings have taken off, in only one day?
Hi, does anyone know why they'd all disappear now (March)? I used to have 10-20 living in the bush outside my house but they all appear to have gone, no food being taken. Can a community just relocate? I did just have some construction work done for a couple days. Maybe that scared them off but they've been nesting there for over a year. If it's that then I hope they'll return but I'm just hoping there's no avian flu outbreak again (rural Appleby).
This is an old thread so you may not get prev posters replying. I don't recognise the names. Assuming you are referring to blue tits re having 10-20 in a bush, blue tits do form mixed flocks in Winter but they are by nature territorial. March, being Springtime, they thin out to set up their own territories. If there are now no blue tits, it means there is no suitable breeding territory there.
Thanks stealthy.
I agree with previous comment, winter flocks break up in Spring and as the weather gets milder they will seek out more natural food sources, search for a mate and a nesting site. It is Saturday so another possibility is that they have joined a protest march in London