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Monday, 4 April 2016
First night since nest building
It took the Great Tit female about a week to build her nest.
And tonight for the first night, she is sleeping in it. Which makes me believe that there is an egg too!
This is based on observations of past years. Great Tit females I have observed in the past started sleeping in the completed nest, only after they had started laying eggs.
As, however, this birdy seems to be going about things slightly differently she might be also ignoring what I just assume is a constant in the Great Tit world.
I will change the camera view tonight and hopefully we will find out soon.
At any rate assuming she did lay an egg we can also just count the days (1 egg/day at most)...and perhaps that will also help.
Friday, 1 April 2016
Thursday, 31 March 2016
The more I know, the more...
...I know that I know nothing compare to all that there is that could be known.
It is the one amazing thing about bird watching, about science, about knowledge in general.
Much of what we do, think, much of how we act and interpret the world around us is based on strings of observations, some related some unrelated. We fill in the gaps and construct what we call knowledge.
Data - information - knowledge. There is a great deal of processing along the way.
I have now observed Great Tits building nests for the past 10+ years and had established what I thought was a solid hypothesis that Great Tits build their nests mostly out of moss, some dried grass and some soft material, like animal fur.
I always examined the nests once their owners had left and the hatchlings too. And twigs were just not in the mix.
In an earlier post this week (Just when things start getting exciting...) I commented on the fact that the nesting box was filled with twigs, thin ones, but twigs nonetheless. I conjectured that Eurasian Tree Sparrows might have been active in the nesting box as this is what I had observed in the past.
Well, my friendly readers, I was wrong. Or rather, I now think that I was wrong.
Why Sherlock?
Simple dear Watson!
Today, I observed, for the first time since bird watching, the female Great Tit bring in twigs. Together with some dried grass and moss, she did bring in a significant amount of small twigs.
Now, the question is: was I blind all these years?
Or is something different this year?
Or is this a revolutionary birdy that has decided to do things differently?
So now another chapter begins in the Nistkasten Adventure.
Oh, and Blue Tit also flew past, and peered inside. The season is starting sizzle with nestbox hunting. Oh! how I love it!!
It is the one amazing thing about bird watching, about science, about knowledge in general.
Much of what we do, think, much of how we act and interpret the world around us is based on strings of observations, some related some unrelated. We fill in the gaps and construct what we call knowledge.
Data - information - knowledge. There is a great deal of processing along the way.
I have now observed Great Tits building nests for the past 10+ years and had established what I thought was a solid hypothesis that Great Tits build their nests mostly out of moss, some dried grass and some soft material, like animal fur.
I always examined the nests once their owners had left and the hatchlings too. And twigs were just not in the mix.
In an earlier post this week (Just when things start getting exciting...) I commented on the fact that the nesting box was filled with twigs, thin ones, but twigs nonetheless. I conjectured that Eurasian Tree Sparrows might have been active in the nesting box as this is what I had observed in the past.
Well, my friendly readers, I was wrong. Or rather, I now think that I was wrong.
Why Sherlock?
Simple dear Watson!
Today, I observed, for the first time since bird watching, the female Great Tit bring in twigs. Together with some dried grass and moss, she did bring in a significant amount of small twigs.
Now, the question is: was I blind all these years?
Or is something different this year?
Or is this a revolutionary birdy that has decided to do things differently?
So now another chapter begins in the Nistkasten Adventure.
Oh, and Blue Tit also flew past, and peered inside. The season is starting sizzle with nestbox hunting. Oh! how I love it!!
Wednesday, 30 March 2016
Something different
...now this is a bit of different post.
It is kind of a surprise, but I don't know if it will work. So it is a double surprise, for the surprisee and the surprisor.
Many years ago, when I was younger and you even more so, two friends met, and did not speak. They did not speak, because, back then, they were not friends. They were meerly two students going about their studying, the one getting high on sugar, the other on discovering the world.
It took a while....many many stories in between which I shall not report here because it would just take too long...but at last they became friends and are every since!
So well, here is to you, as a surprise: Happy Birthday!
It is kind of a surprise, but I don't know if it will work. So it is a double surprise, for the surprisee and the surprisor.
Many years ago, when I was younger and you even more so, two friends met, and did not speak. They did not speak, because, back then, they were not friends. They were meerly two students going about their studying, the one getting high on sugar, the other on discovering the world.
It took a while....many many stories in between which I shall not report here because it would just take too long...but at last they became friends and are every since!
So well, here is to you, as a surprise: Happy Birthday!
Tuesday, 29 March 2016
Has Spring arrived at last?
Tonight, for the first night this year, no bird is sleeping in the nesting box.
This happens when (a) the temperatures are high enough, and (b) when the birds start building nests. As these two generally happen at the same time, it is kind of hard to tell which one is the forcing factor.
Today, a male and a female Great Tit examined both this nesting box (wood-concrete) and the wooden one out the front of the garden.
I must say that nesting-box-apartment-search-time is one of my favourite! The birds engage in both searching, examining, courting rituals,...the calls...the movements, the careful examinations, the careful observing of the surroundings. It is one magnificent display and I could just watch for hours.
This happens when (a) the temperatures are high enough, and (b) when the birds start building nests. As these two generally happen at the same time, it is kind of hard to tell which one is the forcing factor.
Today, a male and a female Great Tit examined both this nesting box (wood-concrete) and the wooden one out the front of the garden.
I must say that nesting-box-apartment-search-time is one of my favourite! The birds engage in both searching, examining, courting rituals,...the calls...the movements, the careful examinations, the careful observing of the surroundings. It is one magnificent display and I could just watch for hours.
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