A pair of blue tits appear to have chosen the nest box I have a camera in, and I got excited when I saw nest material being brought in by the female.
She's now starting to remove it but then she brings another lot of moss in. She's trying to form the cup shape for the nest by spreading her wings out moving the moss to the sides, but gets to the wooden bottom part of the nest box.
I've read about how they want to make sure it's all clean and no bacteria is present but I have a feeling she's using the same stuff she's removed as I've seen her fly out of the box to a nearby holly bush and leave it there, then later on in the day, she'll come from there with the same nesting material and this happens again and again.
Would this be because it's her first time building and still learning or is it that the nest box base is too big. It's one of those where you can watch the nest at 45°
She's still sleeping in the box every night and her partner is still with her as I've seen them coming back in the day for the live mealworm I've put out.
Has anyone seen the same occurring in their nest box or is this something that happens with blue tits when nesting?
Many thanks
I assist a local bird ringer making barn owl and tawny owl boxes which we maintain and monitor. The recorder once had a barn owl box which, the bottom measuring 21 x 15 inches, was totally covered in moss with a small cup nest in one corner made by a blue tit. Couldn’t begin to imagine how many visits that would have taken. The hole is also 5 inch diameter too!
I have exactly the same behaviour with a Blue Tit in my nesting box at the moment. Sometimes there is a lot of nesting material in the box but some hours later she has removed it all. She is constantly pecking at the box floor which had droppings from a Blue Tit (possibly her) that is still roosting overnight. But these droppings have been cleared.