Mrs. Great-tit does sleep already in the nesting-box at the pond.
March 3rd, 2020 (Outside temperature 8°C)
Mrs. Blue-tit and Mrs. Great-tit have started to bring small amounts of moose and gras into the nesting-boxes
at the balcony and the pond. One could think they have synchronized themselves.
March 9th, 2020 (Outside temperature 9°C, unstable)
The great tits are very active in the last days, visit all nesting boxes, in all 3 of them there is already
some material, mostly moss and stalks. Also our 4th box in the garden (without camera) was equipped with it. As Bernhard M. told us,
there is apparently a "woodpecker tit", which is straining to prepare a larger conversion in the pond nesting box. We were travelling
over the weekend, but will observe this in the next few days, perhaps a higher quality ventilation
which we had already thought of.
March 29th, 2020 (Outside temperature 7°C, cloudy)
The first egg has been laid. Mrs. Great Tit is early on this year.
The first egg has been laid (Great-Tit)
April 1st, 2020 (Outside temperature 3°C, sunny)
Completely unseen by us, there are already three eggs in the nest. A Thank You to our diligent spectators who made us aware of it.
Now there are already three eggs
April 5th, 2020 (Outside temperature 15°C, sunny)
Mrs. Great-tit had laid 8 eggs until this morning and started breeding at least on an hourly basis since
yesterday afternoon. The nest of Mrs. Blue-tit is ready but no egg has been laid until now.
April 5th, 2020 (Outside temperature 15°C, sunny)
Mrs. great tit breeds with only very few breaks perseveringly on altogether 9 eggs. We have not seen the
father tit so far, but we hear him constantly singing in the bushes.
Mrs. Blue Tit has apparently also started breeding, as usual with many breaks in between. The day before yesterday we were able
to have a short look at the clutch with 7 eggs, theoretically today there could also be 9, but we don't want to disturb and
therefore let ourselves be surprised.
In the nesting box next to the bedroom a European paper wasp finally moved in and built a smaller nest directly under the
nesting box camera. Of course we let it go, since there are no other interested parties so far anyway.
April 18th, 2020 (outside temperature 22°, sunny)
The first 8 chicks have been hatched. Click on a video to start it!
April 22th, 2020 (Outside temperature 20°C, sunny)
All 9 eggs were hatched, the little ones are doing well so far, both Great Tit feed.
Mrs. Blue is still breeding, we expect the hatching for the weekend here.
The wasp has given up the nest again after it had fallen down.
April 23rd, 2020 (Outside temperature 20°C, sunny)
The little ones are incredibly active, 3 of them were already crawling on the upper floor. So I guess the
mother tit will have to make the nest bigger tonight. The young are still blind and completely hairless.
April 25th, 2020 (Outside temperature 25°C, sunny)
Day 8 in the box of the Great Tit: Everyone seems to be well, you can already hear the little ones from
outside. The parents are both feeding in a rather high frequency and you can already see the first hairs.
The Blue Tit seems to have offspring, exactly 1 week later than the Great Tit. Since we cannot observe the events over the
camera this year, we stay curious. Hopefully everything goes well this year.
Meanwhile our ringed house redstart "Pedro" is again constantly in the garden and inspects possible nesting places. But the
wife is hardly visible, although he has shown her our semi-cave on the terrace several times and again often sings his
favourite song for her on the favourite spot above the garage.
April 27rd, 2020 (Outside temperature 25°C, sunny)
Unfortunately we were only able to count 8 young in the great tit box today. It had already turned out a bit
indicated that the smallest one has no chance in feeding, he always sat at the bottom.
May 3rd, 2020 (Outside temperature 15°C, sunny)
The great titmice are well, meanwhile we are already counting the days until the departure. The tits of the
previous years were in the nest box for 19-20 days on average, so we don't expect an exit before Wednesday, May 06. The tit
mother has been sleeping with the little ones until now, no flight attempts have been made by the young ones yet.
The blue tits also seem to be awake, you can hear them a bit more clearly now. Both parents are feeding in a clearly increasing rhythm.
May 4th, 2020 (Outside temperature 14°C, unstable)
Unfortunately there was another death among the great titmice, now there are only 7, there is nothing to be
seen on the outside of the little one, we have to wait and see how it develops. A few minutes later the biggest junior made his
first flight attempt towards the exit hole.
May 7th, 2020 (Outside temperature 18°C, sunny)
Today was a very important day for the little great titmice. Already in the course of the morning a certain
excitement was spreading. But even the titmice were probably surprised by the speed of the excursion. We too could have bet that
at least 2 of them would like to spend an extra night in the box. But at 3:05 pm, after two failed attempts, No. 1 took off and
disappeared in the hedge next door, about 5 minutes later No. 2 was outside, but first allowed himself a short break in the
terrace chair. Just under half an hour later they went off one by one, one after the other stormed outside, but the last one
fell into the big rosemary bush next to the little cascade. But we had turned off the latter as a precaution, No. 7 freed
himself at some point, flew onto the next bush and immediately afterwards followed the siblings.
Now the box is orphaned, we will probably clean it at short notice, because last year the tits had started a second brood at
very short notice. Cleaning is necessary, there are a lot of remains, it seems that the field wasps had settled down again at the end.
Now we are waiting for the excursion of our blue tits (our problem children of the last three years), this should take place in about 1 week.
May 9th, 2020 (Outside temperature 19°C, cloudy)
This morning at 8:00 there was a moment of shock for the little blue tits in the nesting box. A relatively
large buzzard made himself comfortable on the box for a few minutes and waited for a good opportunity. But as we opened the window
from a distance of 2 meters, he immediately took flight and the tit mummy, who had scolded right next door, immediately flew to
her children in the nesting box.
May 7th, 2020 (Outside temperature 18°C, sunny)
Yesterday morning around 11 o'clock the first blue tit flew out, hours before, it already observed the world
in front of the box with big eyes and then it flew far away, the tit parents didn't even notice. It took then
for some time until they found the day tripper. After that the tit siblings continued to be fed by their parents.
They always looked outside, but apparently they need another day, there are at least 2 more, the exact number
we do not know.
This morning we wanted to watch the further excursion, but already at 7 o'clock there was no feeding activity anymore,
we decided then to check the box two hours later. ALL FLOWED OUT (unknown number, there were
was probably 7 eggs). Anyway, the crate was spotlessly clean, so fortunately this year there were probably
no dead blue tit chicks, which makes us very happy.
