Great Tit Year 2016

Text  Margus Ots, coordinator of Great Tit Year
Image from webcam captured by  Laranjeiras, LK forum
Translation Liis

Camera view from nest box 1

Great tit      Rasvatihane     Parus major

A part of great tits in Estonia nest twice during the summer. At present the young from the first clutch have mostly left the nest and the tits are laying a second clutch. While the first clutch of great tits has 8-13 eggs, the second is smaller – usually 6-9 eggs. The tits that started laying the second clutch earliest have started incubating again by now.

Great Tit Year science news edited by  Marko Mägi, bird ecologist at University of Tartu
Translation Liis

The first clutches of great tit chicks have left the nests. However, few of them will reach a reproductive age, because during the week after leaving the nest a great part will fall victims to predators. Having reached adult age the chances of living on further are relatively great and so it is extremely important precisely in the first weeks of life to make the right decisions outside the nesr and keep alive.

The first decision that the fledged chicks have to make is the time of leaving the nest – to leave in early morning, at mid-day or  even at dusk? Is there  a ”best time” for leaving the nest?

Text Margus Ots, Great Tit Year coordinator
Image from webcam captured by Jo, LK forum
Translation Liis

Great tit         Rasvatihane       Parus major

In nestbox no 1 with a webcam the chicks left on Friday last week or 4 days ago (Estonian original published 07.06.2016). On checking the nestboxes today it turned out that the great tit was building a new nest and that there were already 2 eggs in it! So she laid the first egg already yesterday, only 3 days after the departure of the clutch.

Video recorded by Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee
Translation Liis

In the morning the female arrives to entice the chicks out of the nest with food; the leaving is surveyed by the female’s observant eyes. The ”sleepier” chicks are made to take off  into flight from the nest trunk. Morning is a good time for leaving.

An attentive viewer will manage to distinguish the young birds from the adults, but the difference in size is small.

Video recorded by Liz, LK forum
Translation Liis

Great tit    Rasvatihane         Parus major

That the 9 chicks in the second nest trunk would leave by Monday morning was predictable. Interested viewers could see how it happened.

A great number of viewers have been interested in the doings of our everyday familiar birds. Hopefully the curiosity about the activities of the Bird of the Year was also satisfied on some counts.

Image from webcam by  Shanta, LK forum

Translation Liis

Sadly we did not see how the great tit chicks left their nest on Friday morning since there was an interruption in transmission. From nest trunk 2 the chicks may be expected to leave on Saturday or Sunday.

Leaving the nest often takes place in early morning.

Text Margus Ots, Coordinator of Great Tit Year

Translation Liis

The 18 days old great tit chicks are capable of flying and can leave the nest at any moment, Vana-Kuuste 02.06.2016 / Photo: Margus Ots

The chicks of great tits usually leave the nest when they are 18-20 days old. The chicks of the tits that begun their nesting first have already left the nests but the majority of the chicks will fledge during next week. In the great tit nests with cameras the nesting has developed as follows:

Great Tit Year science news edted by UT bird ecologist  Marko Mägi,marko.magi@ut.ee

Translation Liis

All chicks do not hatch at the same time and so there are chicks of different ages together in the nests. The so-called asynchronous hatching is the result of starting incubation immediately when an egg is laid.  While for instance the chicks of birds of prey hatch at intervals of a couple of days then the small passerines start their incubation when the clutch is complete and all chicks hatch as a rule within 24 hours. Still, considering the fast development of passerines, a hatching 24 hours later may influence the future significantly – the chicks hatched later are smaller and often they do mot succeed to grow into fledging age. The occurrence of asynchronous hatching among passerines poses the question why such a phenomenon occurs at all and are  there any benefits in it?

Great Tit Year scientific news are edited by Marko Mägi, marko.magi@ut.ee, Bird ecologist at University of Tartu

Translation Liis

Pied flycatcher male checking on what goes on in a great tit nestbox / photo: Marko Mägi

Pied flycatcher   Must-kärbsenäpp     Ficedula hypoleuca

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If you are a stranger and you arrive at the nesting site later than the others information on local conditions –is important and both  knowledge and experiences are essential. Knowing the best feeding and nesting sites can increase the nesting success significantly.

Text and photos  Margus Ots, coordnator of Great Tit Year

 Translation Liis

The pied flycatcher arrives in Estonia in the second half of April, at latest in May. Like the great tit and the starling, it constructs its nest in a tree hollow or a nestbox but since by May the greater part of suitable nest sites are already occupied by other birds, the flycatcher starts taking over already occupied nests. The fights may even end with the death of one part – the great tit is larger and stronger and usually manages to defeat the intruding flycatcher. In 2015 for instance I found in a nest box in Vana Kuuste in Tartu County two dead male pied flycatchers on the verge of a great tit nest with eggs. The great tit evidently was not seriously hurt since all chicks developed nicely.