Great Tit Nest Box Camera

[IceAge]

December 06.

16:18

preparation


and ready to sleep

[asteria]

About 8.10 the great tit began to move but didn't get up. At 8.20 the great tit jumped up, looked out of the window and went on sleeping. At 8.22 it jumped up again and left. There was some noise near the nest box and it looks like the second bird was outside.

Exactly at the same time two great tits came up on my balcony to peck the piece of lard.

[IceAge]

Thank you, asteria.

16:15

great tit comes in

[asteria]

It came in at 16.14 today.

[IceAge]

22:54

[IceAge]

December 08.

16:08

great tit comes in





16:11

[Carla]

[asteria]

8.07 the great tit woke up and cleaned the feathers about 2 minutes, then slept again.
8.13 looked out of the window and went on feather-cleaning.
8.16 Slept again in the other corner
8.17 Jumped up and looked out
8.18 Slept but less fluffy than usual
8.22 Noise outside, the great tit jumps up
8.23 Flew away

[IceAge]

18:20
great tit is sleeping

[Shanta]

I remember from translating one of the articles early in the season that it was mentioned that the "owner" of the nest box is the male great tit. So I would presume that the great tit sleeping here now is the male.
In one of the newer articles (the one with the artificial light) it was mentioned that great tits also wake up frequently during the night.

Tried to find out more of bahavior Great Tits, unfortunately without success after which I searched (Pair behaviors of the cabbage and how to behave male and female in winter).
Seems the male thinks "maybe good place for a good new home next year).
Hmm, but were are the females and what they are doing during wintertime?
So sad that I could not find out more about all, but seems, every year a male is looking for another female and not maybe like eagles (couple for many years if all survive comes back to the same nest).

I wish we had more infos about Great Tits (like Marko Mägi, for me seems not enough all of his documentains about this birds here in LK), sadly the year of this bird is nearly over ... maybe and hope also next year one cam will stay.
Sorry for maybe bad english.
TY Felis for all your doings here!!!

[Felis silvestris]

There are many articles out there, which Marko Mägi is citing or writing about. But as mostly in the scientific world, they are in English. And not always available for free, and buying such articles online can be rather expensive if you don't have a library subscribing to the journals, by print or online.
Yes, you are right, it would be nice to have at least one of the great tit cameras again next year.

[Shanta]

"not always available for free"
thats make me so sad, even on LK the Great Tit is bird of the year!
So how we can learn of this little bird?

[Biker]

no idea if its known here:
Great Tits eat Dwarf Bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)!
If the hunger in cold winters with a closed snowcover is very great they are able to catch bats In caves with a little bit daylight.
the defense call of the bats helps the birds to locate the flying mammals.
this observation was explored in a cave in hungary. It is supposed that this behaviour will be given from one generation to the next.
the birds are able to catch a bat in 15 minutes and it was observed thatthe prey was transported outside to eat it.

Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie
https://www.mpg.de/572132/pressemitteilung200909081

[IceAge]

December 11.

08:24

Great tit wakes up, preening and a nap.






08:29

wake up, preening

08:31



bye

[Carla]

[IceAge]

I'm coming home and great tit is sleeping .

[IceAge]

16:09

great tit comes in

[Shanta]

12. Dec

no idea if its known here:
Great Tits eat Dwarf Bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)!
If the hunger in cold winters with a closed snowcover is very great they are able to catch bats In caves with a little bit daylight.
the defense call of the bats helps the birds to locate the flying mammals.
this observation was explored in a cave in hungary. It is supposed that this behaviour will be given from one generation to the next.
the birds are able to catch a bat in 15 minutes and it was observed thatthe prey was transported outside to eat it.

Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie
https://www.mpg.de/572132/pressemitteilung200909081

Biker many thanks for this Link!
Wow, did not know Great Tits can/could catch or would and eat a small (with wingspan of up to 25 centimeters) pipistrelle bat! Very interesting!

Sadly also in this articel, they don't write about gender. For me it's so interesting to know about behavior of females during wintertime. Seems the male have a nice place for the night ... perhaps coincidentally? ... and the female?

[Felis silvestris]

"not always available for free"
thats make me so sad, even on LK the Great Tit is bird of the year!
So how we can learn of this little bird?

First of all, the so far published and translated articles about the Estonian bird of the year here at Looduskalender already give a lot of information. Scientific information has been prepared for us in a very nice way.
We have been learning a lot during last summer by watching the three cameras and what we shared here and what was written on Looduskalender about it in explanation.
Also older articles about the birds visiting the bird feeder contain information about behaviour and habits of the birds.

I had a very short look around and found a few German websites mentioning winter behaviour. It may also be that female birds use nest boxes, if it is not "owned" by somebody else. Especially new ones may also be used quickly. But they also use other "nooks and crannies", caves, hollows, in and around human settlements.

https://www.nabu.de/tiere-und-pflanzen/ ... 13134.html
http://www.scinexx.de/wissen-aktuell-17 ... 02-13.html (was also the topic of this article: http://www.looduskalender.ee/n/en/node/825)
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiegel/ ... 83806.html
Even the Wikipedia article contains a lot of information.

You have to look around a bit, the net has many things, also for free. What I referred to are the kind of scientific studies which are the basis of the longer bird of the year articles here. Those are usually published in scientific journals which are not sold "over the counter" like normal magazines and are quite costly to subscribe. Thus also buying a single article will cost. If you have a good scientific library, like a University Library, near you, you could use their digital access to e-journals, databases and other such sources. But for using them you will have to also be aware that basic knowledge of English is of help. Language of the scientists is English.

I think in what they eat the great tits are not very picky. On one of my visits to Tallinn zoo I photographed a great tit sharing the Amur leopard's meat ... Food is food!

[Biker]

..........I think in what they eat the great tits are not very picky. On one of my visits to Tallinn zoo I photographed a great tit sharing the Amur leopard's meat ... Food is food!

ok. but they are able to catch bats and kill ...that is surprising!

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