Bluetit Diary - May 2002 (second half)

	Thursday 16th May Here, as a bit of light relief, is one of our frogs that also seems to enjoy mealworms. He snapped this one up directly the picture was taken. Animals never co-operate with the photographer!
Business as usual.	Friday 17th May The camera has been set on webcam mode for most of the day, so unfortunately an amusing incident this afternoon was not photographed. Beau came in with a rather large caterpillar, and tried to stuff it down the nearest available gape. After watching the poor chick struggling with it for a few seconds, he retrieved it and tried it in another mouth. This chick also failed to swallow it, and he continued forcing it on different chicks until one finally managed it. Dad looked on for a few more seconds, not quite sure if the food had gone for good, or whether he would receive a sac in return, until he was satisfied that all was finished, and then flew off. Battler has been rather neglected of late owing to the new chicks in box 1, but continues to incubate diligently, something we had almost given up on a few weeks ago. Here are a few pictures to remind you what she does all day!
Returning - from a comfort break? Just checking the're all there	Battler periodically leaves the nest for a short period, generally about 3 or 4 minutes. When she comes back she shuffles through the eggs to ensure they all get an even share of her body warmth. Her mate periodically comes in to feed her and she still spreads her wings as she receives the food. Only a few days to go now!
	Back to box 1. This image shows Beauty feeding her brood. Previously when she left the nest she did not return with food, but as the chicks get older and the weather gets warmer, she is leaving them more often and bringing some food back with her. Interestingly, in these circumstances, she always seems to stand on the right of the nest when feeding them whereas Beau always stands on the left. The next image shows Beau returning with food which he gives to Beauty, who then feeds it to the chicks. When Beauty feeds them she usually stands well over them, so it is difficult to see how many chicks there are.
	Beau, however, stands further back, and to the left. Here you can make out five gapes. Although we believe that 6 eggs have hatched, we have never clearly seen six chicks.
Click on this for a larger image.	Saturday 18th May No time for a long report tonight. However, we have at least 7 chicks! It may not be clear from this image, (the larger one is about 25k bytes) but the large number of such images convinces us that there at least seven chicks hatched. We say 'at least' because on some of them, with a bit of imagination, you can convince yourself that there are eight! Certainly, some chicks appear much bigger and more vigorous than others. We shall see whether they all hatched when the birds have flown. Here you can see Beauty feeding seven gapes. It is Beauty and not Beau, even though she is feeding from the left, because directly after she gets on top of the chicks and mothers them for a bit.
	Sometimes both parents appear to stand and watch for a bit. Whether it is in awe of what they have produced, or more likely, waiting for a faecal sac is not clear. Only the unromantic would believe the latter!
	Sunday 19th May All the eggs in box 2 were intact when we switched on the camera this morning, and the webcam was showing Box 1 until 11.20am, when Elizabeth switched it to Box 2. Battler was not in the box – but there was one tiny chick, with the other ten eggs still intact. Malcolm is out all weekend, managing a croquet tournament, and Elizabeth did not know if setting the video recorder going would interfere with the operation of the webcam, so she went up to the club to ask – it’s only 1½ miles away. Having received the go-ahead to start recording, she then had to find an empty tape, which was not easy as our filing system is not very efficient. In desperation she was just about to start overwriting the first 6 lessons of Buongiorno Italia, when she realised that the tape already in the recorder was clear – it’s the one used for recording the fox and hedgehog antics. At about 12.30 pm, Battler’s mate (Victor, maybe?) came in with a caterpillar, which Battler took, with widely outstretched wings, levered herself off the nest cup, and Elizabeth saw some broken eggshell – and a second chick. While Battler was away, Victor came in with a bit of food, and tried to persuade a chick to take it. Unfortunately their necks seem very weak, and they can only hold up their heads for a moment before they flop down, or back, again. If the adult is not ready to push the food in very quickly the opportunity is lost. Eventually he managed to push it down a throat, and you could see the gulping efforts to swallow it, before the poor creature collapsed in a little heap. Maybe Victor is a first time father, and needs to practise his feeding technique.
	Elizabeth went out for a couple of hours, and when she returned Battler was firmly ensconced in the nest cup – she has managed to make it quite deep now. When Victor brought in some food, she came only partially off the nest, and it was not possible to see if another egg had hatched. However about 10 minutes later, Battler went out for a few minutes, and 3 chicks could be seen. She did not leave them for long, and soon settled down firmly again on top of the babies. She is fairly restless, continually changing her position and delving down into the nest cup. At 6pm we have still not been able to confirm the number of chicks. A little while ago, Battler was seen removing some eggshell, but we cannot tell if this is from a new hatching.
	LATER: Now we are certain that there are 4 chicks. Battler is now not only spreading her wings as Victor comes in, but she flutters them quite strongly as he comes towards her. On one occasion when we were watching, she began to spread her wings before he came into sight – obviously she had heard him before he appeared. The remarkable thing about this nest of chicks is that at least one of the chicks that has hatched was laid 2½ weeks before the last three eggs (see Summary page). And yet they all hatched on the same day within a few hours of each other. If one egg laid at this time can hatch, so can more than one. Perhaps we will get more eggs tomorrow!
	Monday 20th May Beauty's 7 chicks in Box 1 continue to develop. On the left you can just make out six open beaks - and one closed one! Next, Beau is to be seen feeding 6 gapes. Why are all 7 never all hungry at the same time?
	There are now 5 chicks and 6 eggs in Box 2. One more egg hatched over night. The mealworm feeder at the bottom of the garden has been discovered by the Box 1 birds, and a great tit is using it too. Victor continues to feed Battler regularly and she continues to spread her wings submissively as he comes into the nest box. Sometimes we realise that she has heard him outside as she spreads her wings in anticipation, but he does not appear. Whether she mishears or he changes his mind is not clear.
	The best news is yet to come! By late afternoon there were still only 5 chicks and we were beginning to think that this may be Battler's lot. However, at 7 o’clock this evening we saw Battler pick up an intact half eggshell and remove it from the nest. (Previously she has eaten the shell). The latest addition is fairly obvious as it is smaller and a more lurid pink than the others. This is clearly seen in the right hand image where it is it the top left position.
	It appears a plucky thing and can be seen here fighting for its share of the food along with the others - it is the open gape in the middle of this image. However, being realistic, what chance will it have, being about 33 hours younger than the first hatchling? This is a long time in the life of a chick.
	Tuesday 21st May Well, Scrap, the last of Battler's chicks to hatch, survived the night and can clearly be seen on the image on the left. He is the tiny pink blob at the top of the nest and appears half the size of the two chicks just below him. On the right, in an image taken about a minute later, he can be seen begging for food. He's not given up the fight yet!
	This is Victor with his (or perhaps not all his?) chicks. Scrap is the one in the middle at the top. His gape is half the size of that of the other chicks!
	On the left is Beauty doing the housework. The male bluetits never deign to get their beaks dirty by helping with the cleaning, although they do do their share of the equivalent of nappy changing.
	As a teaser at the end of the day, Beauty (in Box 1) has given us a poser. Does this image, taken only a second after the preceding one, show eight chicks? Click the image for a bigger version.
	Wednesday 22nd May Beauty's chicks are starting to look like birds rather than pink blobs. The more advanced of them are actually starting to exercise embrionic wings with feathers. More of this later. Our first images show the efforts that the parent birds sometimes have to go to in order to obtain a buyer of their LGCs (Large Green Caterpillars) Here Beau is passing a LGC to Beauty.
	She passes it to the nearest, most eager chick. The chick can be seen in the right hand image struggling valiantly to swallow the beast.
	All to no avail! After watching the unequal battle for what seems an age, but is probably no more than 10 seconds, she removes the caterpillar and tries again with another gaping mouth.
	This shows the wing feather starting to develop on Beauty's chicks. At the moment, the exercise is mainly stretching which reveals the pink skin underneath the wings as can be seen on the right hand image. The chamber in which the chicks are growing is like a sphere with the top cut off. As a result, this chick looks as though it is filling the nest all by itself!
	Finally, we never saw another image of eight chicks. It must have been an optical illusion. However, pictures of 7 gapes, as seen in this image, are few and far between. Most images show only 5 or 6 chicks, so we haven't totally ruled out an eighth chick.
	Friday 24th May Beauty and Beau continue to look after their chicks with no apparent problems. The picture shows Beau with a mealworm and four chick gapes. The depth of the nest cup is such that it is difficult to see the chicks, but the odd glimpse we get shows that their feather development is coming along well. It won't be long before Beauty feels that they are big enough to leave alone at night - she might get a more comfortable rest that way - but not yet. She is brooding them again tonight. It is difficult to imagine but in 8 more days these chicks will fledge!
	We have been looking carefully for Scrap in Battler's nest, but to no avail. We have no pictures taken during the day that show more than 5 chicks and the likelihood must be that it is Scrap that has died. If that has indeed happened, Battler will have removed Scrap's body as part of her normal housekeeping routine. Here is an image of five enthusiastic gapes pleading for food.
	Saturday 25th May Here Beauty is getting on with her housekeeping in spite of the protests from one of her chicks. Heaven only knows what the other 5 (or 6?) that are hidden from sight down below must be feeling! Still, it doesn't seem to do them any harm and this brood certainly seems to be thriving.
	This shows one of the chicks stretching a wing. You can clearly see the way its feathers are growing - the shaft of the feather being grown well before the rest of the feather (the vane). You can also see that no down has yet grown under the wing, so that stretching it reveals a pink gash of naked flesh; the chicks still need the warmth their mother provides, as well as the food.
	We are still uncertain about the number of chicks in Beauty's brood. Here you can see her feeding 6 chicks - we think there are 7 in total but pictorial proof of this is hard to come by. The image on the right seems to show 7 gapes but we have been fooled before, so we will probably have to wait until the chicks are getting out of the nest cup before we can be certain.
	Judging by this picture that will not be long now. This spiky little chick has decided that it should explore the big wide world a bit further - but it soon scuttles back to the warmth and comfort(?) of the home it knows.
	Sunday 26th May It's hard being a good bluetit mother! We have been feeling for some time that Battler is not the best of Mums. She often leaves the chicks for some time, leaving the feeding to Victor, and when she finally returns, she does so empty beaked! She has even been known to eat the food brought in by Victor!! The chicks are getting much more active. Perhaps it is because they are growing bigger - perhaps it's because they are hungry. They haven't found their voices yet, although we expect that any day now, and they are becoming far more difficult to subdue by sitting on them - the odd head keeps popping out looking for food.
	As another example of Battler's problems, the chicks don't always take the food promptly - even when they appear hungry! Here, Victor gives a caterpillar to Battler who tries to feed it to her chicks.
	Over ½ a minute later she finally gives up and leaves with it in her beak
	In just over a minute she is back again, still with the poor caterpillar (or another one!) and this time she is successful. Following this, she settled down on the protesting chicks.
	Here, you can see a caterpillar in the chick's gape - but it doesn't swallow it quickly enough, so she removes it.....
	....and gives it to another chick, this time with apparent success. Who would be a Mum?
	Tuesday 28th May The chicks in Box 1 are making rapid progress. They spend a lot of time in preening and wing stretching, with the occasional bout of violent wing flapping. When a wing is stretched it is possible to see some bare pink flesh, but they are obviously gaining strength day by day. Sometimes one chick will stray out of the nest cup, (this image shows one of Beauty's chicks actually standing on the edge of the nest cup) climbing onto his siblings, but soon returns. We think they might leave the nest on Saturday, but Elizabeth thinks it could well be a day earlier. The chicks in Box 2, who are about 6 days behind, are also doing well, but more because of Victor's efforts rather than Battler’s. He brings in food regularly, sometimes mealworms from the robins’ supply on the dustbin (we have been unable to attract his attention to another mealworm feeder), but Battler behaves very strangely. She often comes into the box without any food, sometimes after a long time away from the nest, and promptly sits on the chicks – when she does bring in food she is very impatient, and if a chick does not grab the food and swallow it immediately, offers it around to the others and sometimes flies off with it! On the other hand, Victor also does not give the chicks he feeds long to grab the caterpillar. On one occasion, Malcolm counted his putting it into a chicks beak and removing it again 18 times before finally relenting and letting go. Perhaps this mechanism ensures that the really hungry chick gets the food more often than the chick who doesn't actually say no. However, Beauty's chicks don't get this treatment. When food is brought into box 1, the first chick to look hungry normally gets it. There's no hanging about here and the parent leaves immediately to get another titbit. Battler's chicks still appear to have their eyes closed and while Victor is doing the rounds with a grub, they sometimes loose interest and stop gaping. If this happens to all of them, Victor utters a stern 'chirrup, chirrup' which immediately sets them all off again!
	Beauty's chicks are beginning to look like bluetits now. Their feathers are growing apace and some of them get out of the nest cup for a stretch now and again. You can see the well developed wing on this chick on the left - you could almost mistake it for its parent! On another occasion, it or one of its siblings was caught stretching both wings.
	On the left, a chick goes for another walk and on the right, was caught outside the nest cup when Mum came with the food - but that didn't stop it for asking for more!
	Wednesday 29th May One of Beauty's chicks is becoming very demanding. It no longer begs for food and waits to be fed, it grabs the food from Beauty's beak before she realises what is happening! These two pictures taken less than a second apart give a flavour of what is happening.
	The same thing happens here but this time Beauty flew out straight away without waiting the mandatory few seconds to see whether anything was going to appear at the other end. The consequence was that when a sac appeared, there was nobody to remove it and after waving its tail in the air for a short while, the chick gave up, and the sac was dropped into the bottom of the nest. No wonder bluetit females spring clean their nests so frequently!
	One of the chicks took another step forward today. It was standing on the edge of the nest cup and started to flap its wings vigorously, the first time we have seen this. Suddenly it found itself across the nest and bumping its head against the front of the nest box! It was still there when Dad came in with some food some 10 seconds later.....
	..... and so missed out on that chance for some grub!
	Finally, Battler's chicks also took a step forward - their eyes started to open. On pictures this size, this is very difficult to see so a red arrow has been used to indicate the eye in question. Watching the images live on TV it is quite clear - the chicks can now see. The last picture on the right shows Battler's 5 chicks and 5 unhatched eggs. Poor little Scrap!
	Thursday 30th May One of Beauty's chicks is becoming stronger and more aggressive than the rest and is therefore getting much more that his fair share of food. Here he is in typical position standing guard ready to pounce on the luckless parent who comes in with some grub. While we watched earlier this afternoon, he got about three out of four mealworms that were brought into the nest during a period of a few minutes. Hopefully, he will get full eventually and then some of the other chicks will get the chance to eat!
	This chick in the corner has clearly had enough. It got out of the nest and stayed in the corner doing nothing for about 3½ minutes. When you bear in mind that there are 7 or 8 chicks in all and normally you can only see about 4, you begin to realise why getting away for a breather might not be a bad thing. It's still there when another chick does some exercise, an increasingly frequent event these days.
	And here you can see why. Boss is standing on the head of the chick below! He stays there some while, spending the time preening and waiting to pounce on his next meal. And on the right, you can see that this strategy is successful - in swoops Beau and Boss gets the grub.
	Life is getting pretty demanding for Battler too at the moment, though no one chick stands out yet as the boss. You can perhaps see the difference in the male and female hair style. Males are more scruffy with a bigger white piece separating their blue top patch from their black collar. The females are smoother and better turned out - quite like humans really!
	Battler keeps on wanting to call it a day, she is not a dutiful parent, but the chicks will not let her and Victor is still at it bringing in more food at regular intervals and getting the kids exited again. Eventually, she gets fed up and leaves the nest - whether it is to help Victor with the food or for some other reason is not clear
	How do you brood this unruly bunch? Battler keeps on thinking that things are calming down and that everything is under control when Victor comes in again and it's bedlam with chicks lunging everywhere!
	Battler's had enough - she leaves... ...and lets Victor sort out the mess!
	Battler tries again, this time she had actually tucked her head under her wing.... ....but again she is disturbed. This time Victor has the chicks so well trained that he didn't even have to come fully into the nest - he can feed them while sitting in the entrance hole.
	It won't be long before Battler too says enough is enough, and leaves the chicks by themselves during the night. Beauty started leaving the chicks several nights ago, we think this is their third night by themselves. Here you can see three chicks - the other four or five must be in the basement!