Blue Tits Revisited (The Fledglings)

Back in May I shared the story of our Blue Tit parents who, after occupying our nest box with the hidden camera, laid ten eggs. This is the continuation of that story and I will start with a picture of the ten eggs which were being dutifully incubated by our female Blue Tit:

Blue Tit Eggs on 5th May 2016

Female Blue Tit Sitting on Eggs

Blue Tit Eggs on 15th May 2016

The 16th May saw the first egg to hatch, which was just over three weeks after the first egg was laid:

 

First Egg Hatches

Young Chick is Tiny and Vulnerable

The rest of the eggs started to hatch over the forthcoming days until we had seven young chicks in the nest. Three of the eggs did not hatch, which is not unusual in a Blue Tit brood.

The chicks were well fed by both parents and grew quickly:

 

Both Parents fed the Chicks

The following time-lapse video (covering a period of about four weeks) will give you an idea how quickly the chicks grew:

 

I have a lot of videos of the chicks over the four weeks they spent in the nest; but I will spare you and only show a few clips, the first illustrating how the chicks react to food being brought in:

 

 

They can certainly tell when the parents are coming to feed them.

The following video (or series of videos) was captured using my trail camera and shows how diligent the adult birds were in feeding the young chicks:

 

 

The next clip shows how big the chicks got within a few weeks after being fed intensively by the adults (there was barely room for seven chicks, just as well all ten did not hatch!):

 

 

 

 The chicks had even started to preen by this stage, in preparation for leaving the nest.

By the 7th June all seven chicks had grown and were very restless; looking very much like they were ready to fledge:

Crowded and Restless

 Anticipating that they might fledge the next morning I put my trail camera in place outside the nest box in the hope that I might capture a picture of the chicks leaving the nest.
My hunch was right and on the 8th June I woke to find an empty nest:

Empty Nest?

At least I thought it was empty!.............. then just as I was about to shut down the nest-box camera................. I noticed a little beak sticking out from the corner of the nest-box:

I'm Still Here

It was the smallest of the chicks (commonly known as the runt of the brood) and he hadn't left the nest yet!
Over the next hour or so I watched the drama unfold as the adult Blue Tits tried to coax 'Runty' out of the nest by bringing in food and then taking it back out to a nearby branch:

This coaxing exercise was repeated several times.................. and was also captured on my trail camera:

The last chick eventually succumbed to the temptation of food and left the nest-box to join its siblings in a nearby tree.
Great that they all fledged successfully, but did I capture any of the seven chicks leaving the nest on my trail camera? ..................the simple answer is no! ...........................not even Runty!!
I was most disappointed, especially since the trail camera was in the right place at the right time; however the way that I set up the camera was to take a ten second video when it detects movement then shut off for one minute until the next movement is detected. With hindsight I should have had it on for longer and off for shorter........you live and learn! The chicks obviously fledged between the videoing gaps.............like Ninjas!!
I did however capture a video clip of an adult Blue Tit attacking the camera after all the chicks had fledged ...........as if to say "move along, nothing to see here":

 

 

So that is the end of our Blue Tit story; two adults successfully laid ten eggs, seven of which hatched and seven chicks fledged to start their own story.
Here's hoping we have similar success with the nest-box next year (maybe I'll catch them fledging next time?)

Take Care

Teddyedward