Bird Cam 2007
21st May. The last remaining chick fledged early this morning (didn't see it go). It is now evident what happened to the penultimate chick, who can be seen lifeless in the centre of the picture. :(
20th May. Yesterday the two strongest chicks seemed to be mobbing the third, which seemed to be failing. This morning only two chicks visible and later this afternoon, there was only one chick left, with another becoming weaker. The final live chick is shown below.
18th May. The three chicks are still in the nest box, although one was again peering out of the hole early this morning (which is on the left of the picture).
16th May. The chicks look like they'll go any day now. The parent birds are increasingly feeding them at the nest box hole rather than coming inside each time. There were five chicks yesterday but only 3 chicks left now, but there is no visible evidence of dead chicks in the nest box, so I don't know whether the other two fledged early or have died and are underneath the nesting material.
13th May. Great tit chicks are growing a pace. I could only count seven at one time today, but due to their size they are very higgledy piggledy in the nest now. Their calls are much more defined rather than the first 'cheep' noises they were making in the first week. Eyes are definitely open.
10th May. Still 8 chicks, which are starting to look like little great tits now, with feathered heads and bodies (but not under the wings yet) and little stubby tails. Possibly their eyes have opened too.
7th May. I can only count eight chicks today. They are growing fast, with feathered heads and a stripe along their backs, and wing feathers growing. They jostle with each other a great deal and come right out of the nest cup (towards the camera) when mum arrives with food. The nest cup had expanded to accommodate the growing chicks, which are also making lots of noise now - audible from outside the nest box!
5th May. Still nine beaks can be counted. Some chicks are starting to grow the stubs of their primary wing feathers.
2nd May. First slightly audible cheeping heard today. Some (not great) pictures of the chicks as they grow too:
30th April 2007. Two eggs still unhatched first thing this morning, and one egg remaining by lunchtime. Fortunately all nine eggs had hatched by dinner time, and you can just about count nine beaks on one of these pictures.
29th April 2007. After sitting on the eggs, incubating them and turning them regularly for twelve days, the first chicks hatched this morning. At 8am there were 2 chicks hatched and 7 eggs. By 9am four had hatched, with the fifth emerging by 11.30. Chick 6 hatched by 1.30pm leaving only 3 eggs. During this time the mother bird continued to incubate the remaining eggs, with occasional breaks, and the father bird brought regular meals of caterpillars.
17th April 2007. Today I can count nine eggs, so the birds must still be laying. I thought that great tits had smaller clutches than blue tits, so it will be interesting to see if they lay any more.
15th April 2007. I have been watching Bird Cam for some time, but with baby Rosie being only a few weeks old, I had not had time to start a new Bird Cam page. However, after spending the past fortnight or so building a nest, the pair of great tits that have made it their home this year finally allowed us a glimpse of their eggs today! I had not known they had laid any because they had carefully concealed them under a lot of lovely soft wool and nesting material. I have been waiting to see evidence of egg laying, but today one of the great tits started to sit on the eggs, so I assume this clutch is the full number now. I can count seven eggs.
While I am updating the bird news from my garden, a few days ago we had our first ever visit from a pheasant, and Andrew managed to snap a couple of pictures!
