Blue Tit Nest Box Camera Live Stream

[DanielCoffey]

Did the parents remove the remains or was he still alive?

[Winston]

my brother and I attempted to revive him by putting him in some tissue on a hot water bottle, but he soon stopped breathing completely and is now dead

at least we don't have to look at a corpse for the next couple of weeks

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks for explaining. The parents don't seem fazed by the nest being opened.

[Kinglet]

It is in fact still breathing, however pretty slowly for a small bird.

I don't know if moving him back into the nest where it's warm would help him or not, I'm also fairly certain handling live chicks is illegal.

The "human smell" myth is false as almost all birds have a absolutely terrible sense of smell. The birds won't care if you just move the chick, but only if you are fast and do not scare them. I think.

[Winston]

The "human smell" myth is false as almost all birds have a absolutely terrible sense of smell. The birds won't care if you just move the chick, but only if you are fast and do not scare them. I think.

That wasn't what I meant at all. I'm aware that birds have practically no sense of smell, so that never entered into my mind. I just doubted whether putting him back in the nest would actually improve his condition.

And I am pretty sure handling them is illegal because well-meaning people tend to think young birds need "rescuing" and take them away from their parents end up basically causing their deaths.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Winston

[Camacha]

It is in fact still breathing, however pretty slowly for a small bird.

I don't know if moving him back into the nest where it's warm would help him or not, I'm also fairly certain handling live chicks is illegal.

That rather depends on the jurisdiction you are in.

Also, young birds (or other animals) being pushed out of the nest generally means there is something wrong with it, or it is too weak to hold its own. People prefer to deny it, but nature is pretty harsh that way for human standards. Probably for the better too, it is what drives a healthy population.

I always wonder what effects it has when humans intervene in, for instance, panda bear populations. Somehow I cannot imagine all those runts normally dying off being raised to adulthood all of a sudden have a positive long term genetic impact, though the pure numbers are a plus.

[Winston]

god damnit

[DanielCoffey]

There you go... all back in... for now!

EDIT: Spoke too soon!

Edited May 27, 2015 by DanielCoffey

[Camacha]

god damnit

http://i.imgur.com/mHOiYVW.png

Do you know how many chicks typically reach adulthood, percentage wise? I think in trees the stronger siblings tend to push the weaker ones out of the nest, though I am not sure that is in some species or most. That will not happen in nesting boxes as they cannot be pushed out, but it could still cause these kinds of things.

[Winston]

Do you know how many chicks typically reach adulthood, percentage wise? I think in trees the stronger siblings tend to push the weaker ones out of the nest, though I am not sure that is in some species or most.

I don't know what the average is... it's not unheard of for none of them to survive, but I've seen instances of more than 10 fledging.

It depends hugely on things like how warm a spring it is and how much food happens to be available in the area.

Actual adulthood is another matter, because after leaving the nest there are cats and hawks to contend with during the time it takes for them to transition to adult plumage.

[Winston]

Update on the nest - there is now only one chick left alive. The other eight died, likely of starvation.

The remaining chick was always the biggest and was fed the majority of the food as a result.

It has a good set of feathers coming through and it has started preening itself and generally looking perky and healthy.

It is still being regularly fed by both parents and kept warm by the female, so if that keeps up I think it may just survive.

[Winston]

The chick fledged today, 19 days after hatching, at 01:13:53 GMT

It currently resides in some very dense brambles where the parents are feeding it

I believe this is quite a premature fledging

The chick is still quite a lot smaller than an adult and unable to fly - usually they reach the same size as an adult and develop their wing muscles enough to fly before leaving the nest

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks for putting up the webcam - it has been educational for us city folks. Gory at times but enjoyable after all the ups and downs.

[Winston]

Thanks for putting up the webcam - it has been educational for us city folks. Gory at times but enjoyable after all the ups and downs.

You are welcome

I will continue to post updates on the chick

Assuming it survives the next few days, it should appear at my feeders with the parents and I'll try to get some pictures of it

It's not out of the question that the same pair of birds, or even a different pair, might use the nest to raise another brood, in which case I will of course be streaming that too

[Burdman]

Tits! I didn't expect to see a thread like this here. And I definitely didn't expect my first post to be actually related to my name.

Also do you have any tips on how to get nice photos like yours? I can't find them and even when I can, I seem to scare them off before being able to get close enough. This is the best I could do.

[spoiler=]

[LordFerret]

Burdman,

Try to observe from a distance where you're not disturbing them (binoculars come in handy for this); Make note of the trees and branches and bushes or open grounds and such that they frequent, and then move in close and camp (try to conceal yourself a bit too). Then it's just a waiting game... much patience required, don't make noise, and limit your movements.

Winston,

Nice shots. Our Chickadees had 4 hatch, 3 survived (2 females and 1 male). The chicks have all left the nest at this point. Funny, it was the male who was the last to leave, and for several days had spent a lot of time hanging around sitting on the birdhouse begging his parents for food. Since then, we now have two (new? same?) residents with a new batch of eggs which have hatched already... I can hear the peeps of the chicks inside the birdhouse, but have not caught sight of them yet. The Wren we had hanging around, the male seems to have lost his mate (don't know how). He's still staying in close proximity to the Wren birdhouse trying to attract another mate (singing all day). And the Goldfinches are hanging around my garden (our State bird), they're after the black-eyed-susan (Rudbeckia hirta) seeds.