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Blue tit colony nesting behaviour

Dan84
05/04/2020 15:20

Are blue tits commonly known to be colony nesters?

I have a colony nest box (3 boxes) which I put up for sparrows two years ago. So far, not a single sparrow. However, last year we had one pair of blue tits best in a single part of the box. This year, we have three pairs all apparently nesting - one Pair in each part of the box. We’ve tried to capture the nesting on cam but unsuccessfully. We have definitely seen at least three birds (females?) go into a hole each (“1, 2 and 3”) and not come out before a fourth went into “hole 1“ and fifth arrived and waited above “hole 3“

  • 0 05/04/2020 17:58
    Hello Dan, you certainly seem to have customers for your bird box. It is so interesting watching them being so busy gettng the nests ready for their babies. Hope you have lots of little ones, later on.

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

  • 0 23/04/2020 12:41
    You're not alone. We also have a 3 box colony box for sparrows. We've only got 2 blue tit pairs, rather than your 3, but they are in adjacent boxes, rather than being in the 2 ends with a vacancy between them.
  • 0 26/04/2020 20:26
    Glad I've found this post, as we think we have a similar situaton, i.e. a 3 box colony box for sparrows, with blue tits apparently feeding chicks in each of the end compartments. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing between the honeysuckle and the nest box. Interestingly, there's been a marked increase in territorial behaviour - lots of singing and chasing off.
  • 0 30/04/2020 20:20
    Thanks for the info Robbo. I assumed feeding was going on because of the frequency of visits to the box - on Monday I counted 3 visits to one hole followed by 15 to the other in less than an hour. Observed a similar pattern the day before. No crossover in the visits though, so I guess your suggestion of confusion is most likely. The majority of the time one bird (the female?) goes into the box while the other hangs about on the telephone wire - so i guess the female isn't incubating. I'll carry on observing - wish the good weather would return though ;-)
  • 0 03/05/2020 11:41
    I have now been able to see into the boxes and can confirm that there is a bird incubating in the middle box and at least 3 chicks hatched in the end box. Unusual it may be, but not impossible.