Situated
in a suburban back
garden in West Derby Liverpool , 2 Schwegler Woodcrete nestboxes,
a Sparrow Terrace and a Starling Box have been
placed facing North/North-East. In April 2006 Blue Tits
occupied a Woodcrete nestbox, 7 chicks were successfully
fledged( greatly helped by a regular supply of
mealworms, what a weird year ..weather wise 2006 was).
This year more nestcams have been installed expectantly!
This
website follows the progress of our nesters as
they build their nest, lay eggs and rear their young.
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Warning: Egg collecting is destructive, selfish
and immoral.
In
Britain, egg collecting is against the Law.
It has been illegal to take birds' eggs from the
wild since 1954 and
can result in fines and imprisonment.
The potential maximum fine for each wild bird's
egg is £5,000 and/or six month's imprisonment.
Report
a wildlife crime
http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/policy/wildbirdslaw/report.asp
If you would prefer to speak to somebody please
call the RSPB on 01767 680 551 (England and
Wales)
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A series of
pictures taken from inside
the nestboxes.
Meet
Sisi
Sisi
has been roosting in Schwegler box 1 since late
January, unlike Titch her predecessor last years
nester - who was immaculate in her
housekeeping, Sisi is not so particular and
she has not removed all faecal matter from the box
each morning. However it would appear
from recent observations that Sisi may well be the
female inspecting Schwegler box 2 with her mate.
A spanking clean box and a better camera. so
maybe we'll forgive her!
Wed
-Thurs 7/8th
March. Schwegler box 2
Here we have a
potential nester, our lady of the house Sisi as she displays a behavioural clue -
the classic female activity of pecking at the
floor.
Sun
-11th
March.
Our future parents
perhaps. More classic Blue tit behaviour with the male
finding a suitable nest site.
On
several occasions over the last few days
our male suitor (we've named him Orlando) has been
seen at the nestbox
displaying by fluttering his wings and calling to his
mate; he then goes into the hole, calling the
female and hoping she will follow and approve the
site. Our lady duly obliges, when
she enters he leaves immediately leaving
her to thoroughly inspect the site.
Sisi
roosted in box 2 on Thurs 15th March after
several visits during the day, and was seen
indulging in another pre- nesting behaviour indicator-
a spot of wing fanning. However on Friday she settled
back into Box 1 for the night and subsequent nights...mmmh!
Meet
Orlando
Orlando shows a remarkable resemblance to
our Blue tit mother last year
Titch, both birds
showing dark markings on the forehead, irregular
headcap could he be her son?
Orlando 
Titch
Unfortunately nobody or
should I say no bird has shown an active interest in
the Starling box yet; noticeably reduced
headcount of Starlings in the garden this winter.. a
sign of the times perhaps? A Great Tit did
peer into the Sparrow terrace but has not been
back since as far as I know... only one pair of Great
Tits regularly feeding in the garden the moment.
As for the Sparrow population they seem content with
their traditional nesting places in the area that
remain, namely Privet, Yes! we still have some Privet
in West Derby. Also Ivy enveloped Conifer and the
eaves of certain 'old build' neighbouring
houses.....Such is life or should I say nature..
This is the thing with nest boxes you put up what you
view as a ' Des Res' in a prime spot and for
some reason - they don't get past the viewing stage,
left on the market....
Howls of disappointment
resounding from the internet nestbox forums.
One
week later and Sisi has finally made her mind
up, now roosting in box 2 and displaying lots of behavioural
pre-nesting clues - wing fanning and pecking at the
floor and walls.
30th
March 2007
Weather
forecast for next few days sunny and reasonably warm,
temperatures 3/4 degrees up on seasonal norm. Needless
to say birdsong and courting behaviour has noticeably increased in the garden.
Were
nesting!! - 2 days earlier than last year.
(Great
Tit looked in the Sparrow Terrace twice this morning -
just teasing no doubt!)
4th
-13th April 2007
Definite
spurt in nesting activity now, weather still
good. Lots of moss being brought in, structure of nest
forming. 11th April, Sisi now bringing in softer
stuff, fluff and feathers! Nesting cup in production.
Sunday
15 April
I
would say the nest is now complete. Sisi spends a lot
of time in the evening adjusting the nesting cup area
, with plenty of nest wiggles. The feathers are from
an old pillow that I've have put out for our nesters.
How long before her first egg arrives!
Thursday
19 April
The
sneaky beaky, look closely and you will see Sisi has
started the family, 2 eggs. Must have started laying
on Wednesday, couldn't see first egg for all the
feathers... which she's still bringing in!! (12
days earlier than Titch last year)
Sunday
22 April
Egg laying has continued at the rate
of one a day, so this evening there were five eggs.
Sisi spends most of the day out of the box returning
for extended sitting periods in the early evening,
complete with lots of wriggling and adjusting of
nesting material. Still waiting for Orlando to
bring her a food present, maybe when she starts to
incubate hopefully!
How
many eggs in a clutch?
The number of eggs laid by
different species of birds for a single nesting ranges from
1-25.
From the Albatross that lays
1 egg to chickens and waterfowl who lay 9+ eggs.
In blue tits
a clutch of seven or eight is normal but eighteen have
been recorded; although it is suggested that this
could be due to the eggs being laid by two or more
hens! Second clutches are rare in gardens unless the
first nest has been predated (watch out for Woodpeckers,
Jay's, Magpies, Grey Squirrels and of course Cats) Woodland
birds may have 2 broods and lay larger clutches.
Clutch size
can vary due to certain factors.
Age of
parent -. An older more experienced may have a larger
clutch than a first timer.
Time of
breeding - Later clutches are generally smaller than those
laid earlier in the season.
Food
Supply - A positive link of food supply and clutch size
has been documented for many birds. Blue tits aim to time
their young hatching to when food is at its most abundant -
mainly the spring young green caterpillar glut.
Population
Density - higher population densities are linked with
lower clutch size, probably due to reduced food supply. Shown
in studies of garden Tit populations.
Habitat
- Blue tits in broad leaved woods lay larger clutches
than their cousins living on farmland, who in turn lay larger
clutches than their cousins in suburban gardens.
Nest
Site - protected nests (holes, domed nests) have larger
clutches than open ones.
Body
Size
- larger birds live longer and thus have more opportunities to
breed and these produce fewer young each time they breed.
Everybody
loves mealworms!
Thursday
26 April
This evening there were Nine eggs in
the nest and Sisi appears to have settled down
to incubate, although she does pop out for a snack especially
as so called partner Orlando still doesn't seem
to feel the need to provide for her...mmmh maybe he is
Parus's son!
i
Sunday
29 April
Orlando's head markings
seem to be getting darker, however he also
appears to be losing some feathers and I wonder if he
his suffering from the irritating effects of feather
lice, poor thing.
Orlando
is redeemed! - Here we have an example of
'Courtship Feeding' thought to reinforce the pair bond
(their version of a box of chocolates!, a green
caterpillar in this case.) and also to give Sisi
a snack as she's sitting. Orlando visited at least 4
times today with presents, 3 green caterpillars in
quick procession (obviously found a stash somewhere)
and a small brown wormie thing!
Friday
4 May
Weather
a little cooler today, nearer the seasonal norm, and
surprise, surprise Sisi pops out for a snack and brings
back a few more feathers, cosy.
Tuesday
8 May
Hatched!
Checked last night, eggs intact - 6.30 am next
morning 6 hatched, missed it! Sisi munching on
the last eggshell, sensibly replacing the
calcium to her body that she lost through egg
production. (Hatched
10
days earlier than Titch last year)
Apparently
well fed Blue Tit nests are almost silent within
the nests, but when hungry will pipe shrilly for food(
not a good thing to do when hungry predators are
about, magpies, woodpeckers and squirrels will hack and
bite through a box in their search for a snack, fortunately
our tit family our secure in a deep woodcrete box). Talking of feeding I recorded the number of
times each Blue tit brought in a grub for the their babies
over a 7 hour period on day one. As expected Sisi brought in less
due to chick/egg sitting. Sisi : 25. Orlando 41 (Orlando is turning out to be an exemplary parent even
though he's looking so bedraggled and must feel his
head feather loss when it's raining hard! At first our
parents were ignoring the mini mealworms that I
put out for them, preferring instead much smaller prey
like
black fly, small green caterpillars and unidentifiable
grubs, but today the odd broken up mealworm has been
brought in... fill your beaks guys.
Poor Orlando's new look! 
All
9 hatched by Thursday 9th.
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Thursday
- Sisi and Orlando had 2 scares today. Firstly
a racket coming from the nestbox camera
in the morning, showed a very frightened
Sisi cowering in the nest and Orlando shouting
(well you get the idea - in as much as a Blue
tit can shout!!) at the top of his voice outside
in the apple tree, yes one of our local
neighbourhood bully boy Magpies was dancing on
the top on Sisi's nest box; whether or not he
thought he could get in or scare Sisi off the
nest was another matter, he rapidly exited stage
right when I bolted out the back door in
pursuit. As if the Magpie was not bad
enough another would be predator arrived in the
afternoon this time in the form of a Sparrowhawk,
all the birds in the garden scattered as he
started to hop through the shrubbery in search
of dinner; needless to say although he was a
handsome chap I couldn't have lived with
myself if he'd have grabbed one of our little
un's and he was also respectably asked to
leave... |
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Having a nestbox on the wall gives you a golden
opportunity to capture some 'in flight' pictures,
success depending on timing, light levels and
position, and the resulting shutter speed. Additional
pictures can be found on the linked page Nestcam
07 In Flight
Tuesday
15th May
One
week on and what a difference,
all nine chicks still going strong; a couple
obviously a little younger then the others by
their plumage development and beak size but still feisty.
Both parents attentive and hard working, making sure
the littler siblings get their share of the
food.
Bob
our Bird Ringer is also busy this time of year. Bob
can spend up to 8 hours in the field ringing
youngsters in Spring and rings over 200 each of Blue
and Great Tit each year.
Thursday
17 - Tuesday 22th May
Plumage markings, eyes
opening - Beginning
to look the part now!
2 wks
old , stretching their wings, wandering out of the
nest cup, a few more days and they'll be gone!!
In
pictures 1 & 3 below you can clearly see the age
differences between the chicks, one of the eldest
chicks hatched on the 08/05/07 is in the bottom left -
body size, plumage and colouring more developed, his
younger siblings hatched 09 -10/05/07 in the top
right.
Babies
everywhere !
As our
brood approaches fledging, their neighbours have
already started to leave their nests, the most
surprising visitors being 2 fetching Leucistic Starlings.
True
albinos are very rare and can be told by their all
white plumage and pink eyes. Whilst these Starlings
look like albinos they are in fact Leucistic birds.
Leucism like Albinism is a genetic disorder which
results in a loss of pigment in the feathers,
however it doesn't affect the colour of the eye, in
leucistic birds this remains dark. All
white leucistic birds are also very rare, most birds
just show a few white feathers .(Thanks to Paul
Stancliffe BTO)
Bank
holiday Monday -Tuesday 29th May
Last
days
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Here we end the
Liverpool Blue Tit love story of Sisi and
Orlando; with a little extra help with feeding
via mealworms, the brood grew up healthy and
have now fledged 3 weeks after hatching, Our
first two chicks fledged Bank holiday Monday
morning 10.45am, the remaining seven
within 7 minutes of each, 11.06am
Tuesday morning. (Fledged 11 days earlier than
Titch's brood last year. On average the chicks
stayed in the nest 21days before fledging,
same as last years young) The nestbox seems eerily
quiet and we miss our daily look in's. Still as
we bid them a fond farewell, were left with
great memories and nestcam clips for cold
winter nights, and the knowledge that next
year we should have a new couple, and one of
them just might be a baby of Sisi and
Orlando. Good luck to the next
generation.
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Tuesday
5th June
At
last Orlando brings a baby to visit; who knows how
many of the nine survive one week on, there's
certainly
a few fledglings flickering through the trees in the surrounding
gardens. This little one is still learning the ropes but he's
seems to getting the idea about feeding
himself/herself.
Told
you Orlando's spiky feathered crown would return!
WATCH
The
video clips from Nestcam 07 - from nesting to
fledgling 18 in total at MySpace site Laura &
Liverpool RSPB.
Sound
& vision, hear their voices and those little wings
beating - not so quiet!.
(Click
on view my video's from main page)
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=202746901
Here's
some Fab links to other Nestbox watchers!
A
Camera suitable for use in a nest box?
The camera boards used in this
years project are
model, 117CTA/1 Colour Camera,
from Henry's
CCTV centre, London. The
Sony EXVIEW HI RES 520TVL & Sony HQX CCD 550TVL from
RF Concepts,
and a simple wireless camera bought from a local
market.
These board
cameras are relatively small and are easily
concealed in the roof spaces of a bird boxes.
Don't forget it is common sense to
test the camera first before installing the circuit board in
your nest box!!. Unfortunately our camera 3232CP developed a
problem last year and ceased to function just as our
brood fledged, yes a disaster. We removed the camera
after the fledglings had left, no obvious sign of
damage and we assume a chip ? may have blown. Good
enough Henry's replaced the camera as we had only
had it 2 mths and new model 117CTA/1
Colour Camera has been installed in the new starling
box we will check it intermittently over the coming months.
The supplied SCART adaptor connects to a
domestic television, video recorder or DVD recorder. Or
..... you can connect directly (yellow phono connector)
to the 'Video In' on your computer's capture card / TV
card, you will also need a separate white audio
connector for sound .
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TV
System
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PAL
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PAL
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PAL
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PAL
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Resolution
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380 TV
Lines
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550
TV Lines
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380 TV
Lines
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550 TV
Lines
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Min.
Illumination
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0.1
Lux (F1.2)
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0.1
Lux (F2)
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?
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0.1
Lux (F2)
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Power
Supply
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12V
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12V
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12V
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DC
12V
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Dimensions
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60(W)
x 50(H) x 35(D)mm
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38m
(H) x 38mm (W)
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38mm(W)
x 38mm(H)
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117CTA/1 Colour Camera
Starling box
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Sony EXVIEW HI RES 520TVL
Schweg Box 2
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Mini wireless camera
Sparrow Terrace |
Sony CCD pinhole HQX CCD 550TVL
Schweg Box1
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