Blue Tit Tragedy?

nozzferrahhtoo

So completely new to birds here, with no idea how to proceed with this problem. Most likely the answer is "Do nothing as this is just nature at work" but of course when it is "your" birds things are different and you feel compelled to do _something_.

So quite some time ago we obtained a Bird Box with one of those built in webcams. We put it up late last year and of course it was too late to be used. But we hoped the birds would become used to it and start to use it.

They did and we had a pair of tits mate and lay 11 eggs, all of which hatched and all going well until tonight.

Partner heard noise on our balcony tonight after dark. Having no idea what it was she looked out with a torch to find the Daddy bird simply sitting on the beams of our balcony looking about.

Connecting the camera of the bird box we found the mother was not there, strange for after dark we thought. An hour later and no return. So we feel that the bang we heard was a struggle and something has made off with her. We do get bats and owls around here.

Now of course this leaves 11 babies struggling around inside the nest box. What can we do with them / for them at this point?

Can daddy bird feed them enough for some or all of them to survive? Can they survive the nights without a warm mother sitting on them? I realise out of a brood of 11 we should expect some of them to die off anyway, but with one less parent I am curious does that mean doom for them all, more of them, none of them or what?

fathead82

If you leave a tray of mealworms on the balcony near the nest box it will make life a lot easier for the father bird,he will be able to keep his 11 chick fed without having to look too hard for food.
How old are the chicks? if they have feathers,the 11 of them should be able to keep each other warm in the nest box.
Hopefully the mother just got a fright & will be back in the morning,not many predators would be able to get a blue tit out of a nest box,the hole is usually tiny.

nozzferrahhtoo

They are not that old. Wings only starting to change now to the characteristic colors.

We are on the top floor in a kind of contained box balcony so I can not imagine what snatched her. Whatever it was clearly managed to entice her out of the box somehow first. It was quite late and dark and there is no reason for her to have been out at all.

Half-cocked

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

They are not that old. Wings only starting to change now to the characteristic colors.

I they are starting to exhibit adult colouration, they are quite advanced. As above, give a little help with mealworms and they may get to fledging OK.

cuddlycavies

There is often a high mortality rate and rate of desertion in BTs. Hence the large clutches. It would be difficult for one bird to look after them all. Some will die, and then pose a problem in the nest with disease, etc.

nozzferrahhtoo

fathead82 wrote: »

Hopefully the mother just got a fright & will be back in the morning,not many predators would be able to get a blue tit out of a nest box,the hole is usually tiny.

Seems you called it. She is back. Which leaves all the noises we heard and her 13 hour absence unexplained. But we are happy at her return.

Her return knocked the camera aside so now we are not sure how many babies she still has. We can see 6. The last picture we had was 8 babies and three more eggs waiting to hatch. The 2 babies and 3 3eggs are now off camera. We can only wish them well.

I must say, it is amazing how attached you can get watching nature for a few days. And when you think a parent is dead you know rationally that the same event is being repeated up and down the land. But emotionally you are invested in opposite outcome.