Since late April we have had a pair of blue tits building not one but two nests in the sparrow terrace. The box has three different compartments and im worried they have got mixed up with the holes. The female has been roosting/incubating? for over three weeks now. The male brings food as normal, either entering the box or by calling the female out. I am wooried because the female is flying into different comparments ie: this has delayed nesting. I am worried that we will end up with no chicks, getting a little late now but the birds look fine. In Blackburn Lancashire so maybe its a little bit colder up here????????????
Hello, I am definitely not an expert but will try to be of some help and hopefully a more experienced member will respond.
Do you have a camera in the box and can see the two nests? If not, the following may be an explanation:
I also have a sparrow terrace and one year two great tits raised a family in it. We discovered when cleaning out the box that the nest was in one compartment and the other compartment had been used as an "en suite" toilet. I can only assume the female did this to conserve her energy and knew the droppings would not give the nest away to predators, as it would if they just deposited the faeces below the box. Could this be why the female keeps flying into the other compartment?
I am in Cumbria and we have a camera in a nest box with seven bluetit chicks. They are around 10 to 14 days old ( decorating the house and when we connected the camera the chicks were already there therefore not sure) so I do not think it is too late. It has been an exceptionally cold winter and I think they have delayed laying.
In a previous year, the bluetits took ages to build their nest to their satisfaction, it was about three weeks or more if I remember. The box would contain loads of material one day and the next it would be nearly empty again! Either the female was not happy with the material the male was bringing and removing it, or another bluetit was stealing the contents, we never figured it out. They eventually brought up six or seven chicks successfully.
Kind regards Jane.
Thanks jef. Have no camera fitted but i watched for two weeks as the female brought nesting material to both comparments. Only two days ago she brought two beak fulls of straw to the terrrace. Its baffled me so far??
Sorry madness, it has me baffled as well. Unless she builds two nests and then chooses the one she likes best. I have never come across this before so hopefully another member who knows more about bluetit nesting behaviour will reply. I know some species build several nests and choose one but I assumed bluetits only built one.
I wish I could be more help.