Hi
to quote the Mighty Tony Soper-
if every Blue Tit fledged and made it to maturity there pretty soon wouldnt be much room left on planet Earth for anyone else
It is the way of the world
S :)
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Thanks, my mind is now at ease! I’m not at all knowledgeable on birds, but just couldn’t understand why every time I walked my dog along the stretch of grass there was yet another there, in the span of 2 days there has been 5 and I’m left wondering why the parents are not doing their parenting! .. again admittedly I am clueless but Thankyou for sharing your knowledge.
Adult birds do try and remove dead young from nests. Those are well developed young. I'd have said great tit, or possibly coal tit from that photo. Would have been a struggle to get them out the nest, so dropping them directly under is possible. Also, could have been a predator got to them and didn't take them all at once.
I have seen them attempting to take flight from the ground, not always with success so I’m assuming it’s likely cats that have getting to them x
Yes. I don't doubt cats finished them off. Broods are large to offset the high mortality. However, cats mess up food chains as they're non-native and have no natural predators or number controls. Whole areas fail with breeding attempts and some species are worse affected then others due to their feeding habits bringing them closer to cats. Complete waste of time song thrushes and blackbirds breeding here......they fail every time, either losing their nests to magpies/jays/crows/foxes or their young the instant they set foot outside the nests. Hawks often pick off the last remaining breeding attempts.
My Blue Tits outside the kitchen window are being exceedingly fast and stealthy in and out- Oddly they haven't used the box for awhile but seemed to take more interest when Mrs S cleared the honeysuckle from around the box
I was watching the male doing nervous reactions today before entering- I'm not sure if it was me at the sink or something else- I moved slightly sideways and he decided to go on in-
Guess I'm just a waorld birding list building Blue Tit fan
THEY ARE GREAT!!
S
The UK has had cats. Wild ones, as well.