Great Tit Nest Box Camera

[Shanta]

11 May

Nest 3 ... 06:50 again an egg


Breakfast for the females
Nest 1


Nest 2

[Felis silvestris]

I don't know if I should be happy or sad ...

[Felis silvestris]

Shanta, this topic is about three nestboxes with Great tits, so when this one is lost it is not over for the viewers.
Great tits are perhaps the most researched and filmed birds in the world. Webcams of nesting Great tits (and Blue tits) are pretty common. Today even many private persons are putting webcams in their nest boxes. On the other hand I am not aware of any earlier webcam showing breeding Wrynecks.

There is a reason for putting the cameras and promoting them this year in this forum - Great tit is bird of the year in Estonia. Of course there is never a guarantee that one will get to see what one expects, over the years we have more than once joked about the "musical nests" and we have more than once mourned the loss of eggs and also chicks, even fledglings. This is what nature is about and we get the unique chance to witness the daily fight for survival!
Personally I still hope for a "happy end" for the great tit, little heroine she is for me. I hope the wryneck has left the area for good and does not return.


@ Shanta - about the life of tits in general - I saw a documentary not so long ago - Meisen - Leben im Gegenwind - maybe you can have a look if this is still available in one of the Mediatheken?

[Shanta]

I don't know if I should be happy or sad ...

Felis, same here

Sadly till now, found no video from documentary Meisen - Leben im Gegenwind. Will check again. Thank you!


Until now female box 3 has not come back, no movement in nest. I fear, that's not a good sign.

[laranjeiras]

still no sign (nest 3 occupant)

[Summi]

So sad to see the grief of the female.

[Felis silvestris]

Our tough little lady is home - and had a delivery form hubby

[laranjeiras]

yessssss she's there

[Shanta]

Felis and laranjeiras

19:15 Feeding and first time I've seen male in box


19:13 Open cam and cute "Fluffy" in nest (box 3)

[Felis silvestris]

I think the clutch was not yet complete. She started on May 1st and had 10 eggs yesterday on 10th. In the first nest there are 11 eggs and we have read that a clutch can be up to 18 eggs, hard to imagine though. But at least one egg was still to be added and we will see if it stays an only child or if a sibling will be added. I just keep my fingers crossed that nothing goes in between here again.

There is an article on Looduskalender already (http://www.looduskalender.ee/n/node/320), with a comment by the coordinator of the great tit year Margus Ots. It's not yet translated officially and Google Translator makes as usual a slightly strange and funny business out of it, but it gives an idea already:

Eurasian Wryneck line is the woodpecker, whose main food is ants and their dolls. It builds its nest puuõõnsusse, but often in a nest box. Suitable nesting sites by searching for loot it from other nests in cavities for nesting birds, throwing off both nesting material, as well as the sons of eggs that you take yourself out there to breed. Eurasian Wryneck do not build a nest, she lays 7-10 eggs White tree cavities or nest boxes directly to the north. Eurasian Wryneck is our only rähnilistest kaugrändur - he spends the winter in tropical Africa Sub behind when coming to us in the second half of April and leaving in September.

What would be robbed of a great tit's nest? Although the great tit nest, however, had to spend the night, it can be assumed that it leaves its nest down and tries to re-nest somewhere else. In the coming days we will see if the nest box to nest will ravages coped Eurasian Wryneck, instead someone else, or the empty nest box for a while.

[Felis silvestris]

20:24 - a new delivery from husband

[Felis silvestris]

20:37 another delivery. So cute how she opens her beak the moment hubby appears

[vainamoinen]

Eurasian Wryneck line is the woodpecker, whose main food is ants and their dolls. It builds its nest puuõõnsusse, but often in a nest box. Suitable nesting sites by searching for loot it from other nests in cavities for nesting birds, throwing off both nesting material, as well as the sons of eggs that you take yourself out there to breed. Eurasian Wryneck do not build a nest, she lays 7-10 eggs White tree cavities or nest boxes directly to the north. Eurasian Wryneck is our only rähnilistest kaugrändur - he spends the winter in tropical Africa Sub behind when coming to us in the second half of April and leaving in September.

What would be robbed of a great tit's nest? Although the great tit nest, however, had to spend the night, it can be assumed that it leaves its nest down and tries to re-nest somewhere else. In the coming days we will see if the nest box to nest will ravages coped Eurasian Wryneck, instead someone else, or the empty nest box for a while.

Not so bad translation.
puuõõnsusse - in tree cavities
kaugrändur - long distant migrant
as well as the sons of eggs - hier richtig is - eggs as well as small chicks.
All other is more or less understandable

[vainamoinen]

Yet one big mistake

puuõõnsuse või pesakasti põhja - here isn't deal about north but right version is on the bottom of cavity or nest box.

põhi - in Estonian could be "north" but could be "bottom" too

[Felis silvestris]

Google translator translations are a bit "comme si, comme ca", sometimes they are legible - this one is at least in the important parts - some are just hilarious but don't make any sense (like the "sons of eggs"). Great fun are the technical things the translator adds sometimes (some time we had a "worker's car", I don't remember, either on a LSE nest or at the BS) and GT never gets who does what to whom, like that it was Ilmar catching Urmas ...

But thanks for adding some of the not translated things!

[Shanta]

Thanks Felis for all your efforts!

Google translator translations are a bit "comme si, comme ca", sometimes they are legible - this one is at least in the important parts - some are just hilarious but don't make any sense (like the "sons of eggs")

There is an article on Looduskalender already (http://www.looduskalender.ee/n/node/320), with a comment by the coordinator of the great tit year Margus Ots. It's not yet translated officially and Google Translator makes as usual a slightly strange and funny business out of it, but it gives an idea already:

Eurasian Wryneck ... throwing off both nesting material, as well as the sons of eggs that you take yourself out there to breed.

... understand nothing, why sons off eggs take out to breed

All three Ladies sleeping now






... and me also

[Shanta]

12. May

Good morning!

Box 1 ... Lady is busy


Box 2 ... Breakfast


Box 3 ...

[laranjeiras]

Nest 1:


Nest 2:


Nest 3:


my guess is that the inhabitants of nest 3 are giving things another go - the egg from yesterday could be hidden here and there seems to be renewed nest building - it's just a guess, from the layman (ie. I have no expert knowledge on this)

[Felis silvestris]

Nest 3 stayed empty today evening.

The other two ladies are at home -

[laranjeiras]

may 13th

it looks to me like nothing at all has happened at nest 3 - all the details look exactly the same as yesterday evening....


here is nest 1:


and nest 2: