Great Tits last feed before they fledge from BirdBox!

Sundew

Last Friday whilst in my parents garden I heard lots of activity in one of the bird boxes attached to the shed wall. A family of Great tits had nested in the box and it seemed they were getting ready to fledge as one little birds kept peeping out the window to look for Mummy I hid in a bush nearby and got some pictures with my Point & Shoot camera.



"Mum Where are You?"





"Listening to Mum calling"


"Watching Mum bring the food"



"Hurry Up! I'm hungry!"


"Arriving with food"


"Making sure the coast is clear"




"Dinner is Served"

Chicks had fledged by the following morning!

j@utis

ah cute little things, wish them all the best.

in winter my grandma used to make these fat/grain feed balls and get us to put them up on the of the trees in the garden. and then we all sat at the window looking out at the great tits feasting on them. ah that was so long time ago...

Sundew

j@autis: It was fun watching them. I wish that there had been a camera in the box as there was so much excited chirpping going on inside,I would love to have seen what they were up to.
I got a great kick out of seeing the little heads peeping out

My parents have been feeding the birds for years now and as they have an acre of garden there is always something nesting around the place!
Funny enough a Goldfinch is a very rare sighting in their garden but tits,greenfinches and sparrows are in abundance

bogtreader

Good shots thanks for sharing .Do you know whereabouts your parents got the bird box

Sundew

bogtreader wrote: »

Good shots thanks for sharing .Do you know whereabouts your parents got the bird box

Bogtreader. I actually got it for them and am trying to remember where I got it. Picked it up in Dublin and it was either Newland's cross garden centre, Homebase or B&Q. I can't actually remember exactly where, butI'll post on the forum when I see them back in stock!
It is RSBP approved and there is a nice side door which can be unscrewed for cleaning out the box for the following season
My husband screwed on a piece of metal and then screwed it to the wall securely.
I'm sure once the Autumn comes in you will see something similar in the big DIY stores or garden centres.

Feargal as Luimneach

Sundew wrote: »

j@autis: It was fun watching them. I wish that there had been a camera in the box as there was so much excited chirpping going on inside,I would love to have seen what they were up to.
I got a great kick out of seeing the little heads peeping out

My parents have been feeding the birds for years now and as they have an acre of garden there is always something nesting around the place!
Funny enough a Goldfinch is a very rare sighting in their garden but tits,greenfinches and sparrows are in abundance

Put up a Nyjer seed feeder and you'll get plenty of Goldfinches flocking to it:)

Sundew

Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »

Put up a Nyjer seed feeder and you'll get plenty of Goldfinches flocking to it:)

Feargal: They tried that a few years ago but no goldcrests came. They had a nyjer feeder out for quite a while.
I've had goldfinches visiting a feeder of mine in Dublin though

bogtreader

Agree with feargal goldfinches will visit for nyger seeds i dont have any at the moment but have a male and female siskin you will also attract blackcaps as
well.Thanks sundew for the info i will keep an eye in B and Q

Oliverdog

Excellent pictures Sundew - thanks for posting.
Hope you like this one. It's a collage made from a few pictures of a blue tit trying to pluck up the courage to get out of the box. He and his siblings made it the next morning, and when I opened up the box to clean it out, I'm glad to say there were no eggs or little bodies left behind.

Sundew

Great photos Oliver: It's gas watching them peering out and trying to pluck up the courage to fly. Thanks for sharing

MB Lacey

bogtreader wrote: »

Good shots thanks for sharing .Do you know whereabouts your parents got the bird box

Its from homebase off the naas rd, its an rspb box - I know cos I've had one up on the side of my shed for three years, but its never used *sniff*.

maybe next year.......
(I checked its clean inside and its not in direct sunshine or wind etc I might move it to a different location though for next year.)

Well done on the photos - they're great.

Sundew

MB Lacey wrote: »

Its from homebase off the naas rd, its an rspb box - I know cos I've had one up on the side of my shed for three years, but its never used *sniff*.

maybe next year.......
(I checked its clean inside and its not in direct sunshine or wind etc I might move it to a different location though for next year.)

Well done on the photos - they're great.

Homebase: Thats it!!!
Thanks I couldn't exactly remember where.
Sometimes it can take a while for boxes to be occupied.
I don't think I would move it but I would possibly get another box and put it up in another location.
My parents have done this with bird boxes and there is always one location which the birds prefer over another
Do birds have plenty of coverage nearby?
I put up a robin box last year on an electricity pole only for a family member to remove the ivy from around the pole :mad:
He forgot the box was there so I reckon we won't have robins nesting now for some years as the cover has been removed

MB Lacey

Sundew wrote: »

I don't think I would move it but I would possibly get another box and put it up in another location.

Good idea, thats what I'll do.

Sundew

MB Lacey wrote: »

Good idea, thats what I'll do.

Ya can never have enough nesting boxes I reckon

If you have hedging or any shrubs in your garden "nesting pockets " are just as handy for birds too!
Again you can pick them up in Newlands Cross G.C and I have also managed to pick them up in the €2 shop near where hector Grey's used to be. keep your eyes peeled for them. My parents have had huge success with these. We have had bluetits and wrens use them

Here are something similar to give you an idea:
http://www.bird-house-bath.com/thatch-grass-nesting-pockets.html

Oliverdog

Sundew wrote: »

Great photos Oliver: It's gas watching them peering out and trying to pluck up the courage to fly. Thanks for sharing

Thanks Sundew - I was out there for hours trying to catch a few shots before they all left us. This other picture shows our local robin who spends every daylight hour trying to scrounge food out of us to feed his young.
The nestbox on the shed was only put there this winter but the tits were checking it out almost from the first day they spotted it. It's under the eaves, nice and dry, facing about south-east. We also had some swallows under the roof of another outbuilding, and I spent €30-odd on an 8 metre USB cable extension and rigged up a webcam to watch them. But the next day it got so hot under the tiles that the hen was panting on the nest, and they abandoned it. Grrr.
But next year, if the blue tits come back, I'm going to try and set up a webcam to watch them a bit more closely.