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a blue tit is brings in some nest materials (moss), not more than a very thin layer, covering 75% of the the bottom surface. however she? / he? takes out in the early morning all materials again.
this behaviour repeats itself about 1 week. the bird is in the vicinity if the nest during the day and enters often, brings in nest material during the afternoon but empties it in the morning and does not build a nest cup.
initially I thought it was related to a mounted camera in a glass roof:,the bird looked up in the morning light to this potential mirror and showed exploratory behaviour, not overt aggression.
this I solved, and the nest building started.
he/she shows also nesting fluttering of wings to shape of a nest cup.
but somehow the bird does not push,through so far.
I exclude robbing of nest material, most of it is immediately dropped after exiting the nest. there is plenty of moss available. maybe the sizing of the nestbox is inadequate (rather unlikely).
my hypothesis now is that the male is carrying some stuff in to attract a female apparently without success so far.
someting in this nest opportunity is holding her back.
note that since 5 years I had camera-observed succesful nests of both blue & great tit. the site is preferred.
the nestbox was changed this year.
some 2-bird at the same time- entries are observed.
the repetitive emptying by the male? could be explained that the female normally prefers a ‘clean’ box so she can evaluate the (low) parasite pressure.
every night already since november a ‘sleeper’ roosts in the nestbox; this sleeper defended feriously the nestbox when in january another blue tit entered. I think the sleeper won, but I am not sure. the fight lasted > 10 minutes.
In the literature I have not found such observation.
it seems in blue tits the female builds the nest.
I have not yet found a more detailed description of the early stage of selecting the nest site and taking possesion of it/defending it.
many thanks for giving this your attention