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I put a bird box up towards the end of last summer and was curious if it was being used, so last month I dug an old pc out and installed Debian on it and Zoneminder, put a very old PinacclePCI capture card in it and plugged a video camera into it to monitor the box (set to motion record).
I noticed a bluetit cheking it out, it now goes into the box between 5pm and 6pm and stay the night.
Last day or two there seems to be a lot of activity around the box around 8-10am then not much until around 3pm.
This was captured today (Tuesday), is this simply two bluetits going for the same box or a possible mating pair?
I'm using a video camera to zoom in and monitor through double glazing, so not the best quality, I bought a cctv camera to put outside to monitor it but it's too wide angle to get any decent video
I even set my camera up on a tripod in the spare room with the window open with a wireless trigger, so if I was watching the live feed downstairs I could take some shots.
With the weather being bad I haven't had a lot of luck, too wet to have window open and too windy to use motion detect, the motion of the tree set it off all the time. The wind has actually blown the box around a little.
I managed to get this today though.
Hello, anyone home?
Brian.
My Flickr
My own humble photo site
Hi Brian, Its wonderful to see the Blue Tits checking out boxes in preparation for Springtime; we have had 9 out of 13 nesting boxes checked out (since late December ! ) and one box is just like yours with constant activity in and out so wondering if they are now thinking about taking some nesting/roosting materials in. The birds seem to check out several boxes before making up their minds which to call home, they will inspect every inch of the box and its surroundings then peck consistently at the entrance hole, as if to mark it in some way ! so it looks like you will see some lovely activity once the green caterpillars are around and they can start to breed. Good luck, keep us updated, thats a lovely view you have of your bird box.
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Regards, Hazel
A couple more from this afternoon.
I haven't seen them taking anything in yet, but I know at least one stays the night in the box.
Beautiful photos Brian, the Blue Tits look quite at home :)
Disaster has struck, just been out to find the bird box on the grass, not sure how it has fallen down yet.
Crop of the bottom of the photo.
It had eggs in it :(
I'm not sure what to do now.
Should I put it back up as is, or clean it out and put it back up?
I can't tell yet, need the ladders to get up to the spot it was nailed to the tree.
I bought the box, I'll clean it out and put some small brackets on it when I put it back up
Cheers Alan, I don't get out as much as I used to with the camera, I must make more of an effort.