Saturday 31 March 2012

Birdbox Battles

A bird box can be a dangerous place... photos from Saturday morning after the Blue Tits have been setting up home for about a week:
Is breakfast ready?A nice sharp beakOpen wide!

This was the morning before I fitted a narrow metal entrance plate to protect the Blue Tit's nest. The blue tits continued bringing moss to their nest, these are from Friday:
More nest materialGet in there!Off again...
There are lots of cute action shots!

Blue tit posingLeaping out & upDropping out

More moss on Saturday:
More for the nestAnd more...Off again

But then, just before 5pm, an invasion began! Sound would have been great...
Incoming rivalOr two.Looks like a tree sparrow

The blue tits got their nest back quickly that time, but the sparrows returned and one stood guard:
Comfy.Blue tit returns...Surprise!

The sparrow(s) continued to hold the nest undisputed for about an hour, perhaps occupying it in shifts. The Blue Tits did dispute this, but the occupying sparrow left at 6:30, just before the male woodpecker returned:
Male Greater Spotted Woodpecker

The dispute continued after the wood pecker left, with a sparrow in occupation until I arrived to fit a 25mm face plate (primarily to deter the wood peckers seen earlier in the week), which scared it off.
Fitting nest box face plate
That should block the wood peckers and the sparrows, I just hope the Blue Tits are not put off. I've enjoyed going through the day's action which was recorded by Motion, working out what happened - but it does generate thousands of shots!

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