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Blue Tit & Bumble Bee

jensonsdad
03/05/2021 14:48

I have a bird box (with camera) which a blue tit is using - five eggs currently - and all morning, there's been a bumble bee strutting around, burrowing under the nest material etc. so I'm guessing from info found on here that it's looking to nest. Will it harm the bird or young when they hatch or will the bird kill the bee? I'm assuming they won'y happily coexist.

  • 0 03/05/2021 15:29
    Just seen on camera the tit in the nest, possibly laying another egg when the bee returned. It got a swift violent peck for its trouble but managed to beat a retreat! Tit 1 bee 0. That may have answered my question.
  • 0 08/06/2021 14:26
    As this seems to be being read still, I thought I should update it.

    Eggs hatched three weeks ago. Parents were very busy to start with but whether it was the cold spell getting to the babies or lack of caterpillars I don't know but suddenly we were down to just two young. I did have a distressing moment when I saw one of the adults pick up a baby and fly off with it but it happened so fast, I couldn't tell if it was alive or not. Do adults cull the brood if they think they can't cope?

    The two that were left seemed quite strong and after a few anxious days we decided they were safe. They eventually opened their eyes and went from strength to strength and both fledged successfully yesterday.

    As this was our first year with a box, we feel very privileged. I plan to leave the nest material in there until autumn in case they come back for a second laying. I assume that's correct?
  • 0 08/06/2021 15:02
    Thanks for the comment Robbo. We offer live mealworms all year and put out more at this time but I think ours were thinned down to two before they were large enough to take whole mealworms. The parents often took one, flew off to a tree and returned within a minute to feed babies. I expect they were cutting them up into baby sized chunks ;-)