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Nestbox v. popular

Spring isn’t the only time there is action at the Nestboxes in our gardens. Perhaps over the weekend you might like to watch yours for the hour between 9:30-10:30am. You could be surprised at what you could see. Early nesting? No, not likely. Birds, especially Blue tits here in the UK, will use Nestboxes to roost in over the cold winter nights.

However, if you did have a nest in yours during Spring its perhaps a good idea to remove the nest and sweep out the Nestbox (if you haven’t already done this) so birds could use them now.

It’s not too late. I’ve one I need to look at myself although I have a feeling water has been getting in it and I may need to remove it completely.

Christmas is just two weeks today. Argh… just where does the time go… Mmm… I think I know the answer to that one! You’ll be busy too I expect. I’ll make this a brief posting for today. Let’s just have a look inside my nestbox… I’ll not chat on too much ;-) Speakers on? Watch the volume!

...and there's more...

The montage below is for those who are unable to play these videos. It shows snapshots from inside and outside my nestbox on Wednesday morning.

My thoughts are that one of these birds is roosting in my Nestbox. I do know, for certain, I’ve a rooster in there at night. However both birds were very agitated here. My original guess was the bird inside was the rooster but as I edited the footage for my video I began to think that the one outside must be it. Today, I’ve seen no signs of any activity. However, when I’m editing video footage I don’t have the camera image up on screen. There are some feathers in the corners of the nestbox to suggest a lot of wing flapping (which the videos show).

I suspect that our rooster will come into the Nestbox at around 3:45pm to make sure it gets to stay there for the night. Unfortunately, as my Nestbox is day lit only I won’t be able to get good clear photos of the rooster’s head to compare the pattern to the birds in my videos. I find it fun trying to work out who’s who!

Okay, I said I’d keep this brief :-) Wishing you a great weekend… brrr…it’s chilly and very foggy out there… wrap up warm and keep safe on the roads.

All photos above are screen grabs from either my camera in my Nestbox or a video camera. The videos were taken on December 9th 2009.

Posted by Shirley at 15:13 Labels: Blue Tit Rooster, Camera Nestbox 2009 
It is reallly cold here too. No wonder those sweet little birdies are snuggling up in those boxes. I hope you have a great weekend too.

11 December 2009 at 18:17:00 GMT 
Terrific video captures there Shirl. Great to see the birds taking advantage of the nest box. Still no signs here but it wasn't used last winter until it got well below zero.

12 December 2009 at 10:36:00 GMT 
Lovely videos and I enjoyed the 'Shirl Attenborough' commentary very much ;)

I have only just caught up with your posts on the tree planting, the whole event somehow escaped me unfortunately. I haven't been too well lately so am very behind with blogging!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading of your dash to and from the garden centre and had to laugh at the image of you trying to battle your way out of the doors with the tree. Such a shame you were ultimately scuppered but I'm sure it was fun anyway and the tree is planted which is the important thing. I don't know if there were any participating garden centres here, I certainly didn't see any advertising in the local papers and we don't have a Dobbies anywhere near that I know of.

I loved seeing your garden tree decorated, what a lovely idea!

BTW I will be sending you an email soon and am sorry for not having done so before.

12 December 2009 at 18:11:00 GMT 

Great that you are seeing so much action in your nest box at the moment, I wish I could say the same. About a month ago, we had loads of nest box visits, but it has gone a bit quiet recently. We don't have any roosters yet either, but as it gets colder, i'm guessing its becoming increasingly likely that we will see a Blue or Great Tit use the box to roost.

I should think that, soon, we may start to see birds inspecting the boxes for spring.

Great commentary btw, it really worked well.

13 December 2009 at 17:58:00 GMT 
Hi Lisa, I agree that will be why they are squabbling over them!

Thanks we have had a good weekend. It’s got a bit colder too. I wonder if we too will see snow this week.

13 December 2009 at 23:33:00 GMT 
Hi John, thank-you! I don’t have the capture set up you have so I was thrilled to be watching at the right time. Today I haven’t seen much going on around the nestbox.

Ah… we’ve been below zero all day. Perhaps that’s why the birds were so interested in my nestbox!
 
Hi Jan,thank-you… I’m always a tad nervous after narrating a video. They take quite a bit of time to do as you might guess… so many outtakes!! I really appreciate your comment. If no comments mention it I worry that it was a bad idea.

So sorry to hear you’ve been unwell. I wondered if something was keeping you away from your blog.

LOL… yep you know how I like to storytell. I couldn’t believe the Learner driver when we were so close to home too!

Thanks, I’m delighted to hear you liked my decorated tree. I do have some twinkling white lights too and may add them closer to Christmas.

No rush for an email. It has been good to hear from you :-D

13 December 2009 at 23:45:00 GMT 
Hi Joe, yes, probably the colder temps have had something to do with this activity. Fingers crossed that you’ll see roosters too.

Yep… January last year saw the first pair checked out our nestbox during the day. I have say though, that I’m pretty certain there are two pairs already visiting the feeders.

All the best for your nestbox in 2010! Thanks, I’m delighted that you liked the commentary. As I said to Jan above once I’ve posted a video with it, I do worry how they will go down.

All the best for you exams :-D

13 December 2009 at 23:51:00 GMT Surfpunkian said...

WOW! I love the video with commentary and am very pleased to see activity in your nest box still.

I look forward to more of your excellent wildlife videos - keep up the good work :-)


14 December 2009 at 13:41:00 GMT 
Hi there Ian, thank-you!! You have no idea how much I think a narrated video is a bad idea after I’ve spent much time through retakes etc and hit the button to publish. I very much appreciate feedback. I have done this just a couple of times before - one about water in the garden and why I like it. I don’t think they’ll be a regular feature but ‘fun’ to do with the right subject every now and again :-D

Yes, it has been a delight to see nestbox activity. I have finally decided I’d like a camera with infrared in my nestbox (OH wants to get me for my Christmas) so we are researching this at the moment.

Thanks again, I’ve also been researching other video editing software as I’d like to get a bit more creative there too. That will need some extras to the PC first… not the time of year to be doing that though.

Sorry I haven’t got back to you. I’ll email soon :-D

16 December 2009 at 10:04:00 GMT