All was going well, until I turned on the camera this morning. The weather has been warm over the last two days and I know the female Great Tit has been spending lots of time trying to keep the nest cup clean.
Some of her cleaning efforts have seen the chicks pushed up to the edge of the nest cup at times, and this morning I saw two of the chicks were out of the nest cup and up in the top corner of the box.
I spent some time watching the box, before I had to go out. During the time I was watching both parents were coming into the box with food but the two chicks, that were out of the nest cup, were receiving little food. I guess the parents are so used to just heading towards the nest cup they do not notice some of the chicks are not there at times.
I left the camera recording and when watching back, I was glad to see one of the two chicks successfully made it’s way back into the nest cup. The other remained in the corner and did not receive much food from the parents. Was there something wrong with this chick?
The female Great Tit came back to the box with the last feed of the day, around 20:40. One chick was still in the top right corner of the box and was not looking well. I am not going to go into detail of what I saw, as it is upsetting and sad to see. I suspect this chick will not make it 🙁
The female spent some time cleaning the nest cup before trying to roost for the night. She decided the chicks still needed to be kept warm and so sat on top of them to sleep. How the chicks felt about a adult Great Tit sleeping on top of them we will never know.
More in my next diary update
