John came round again this morning to help with the second bird box, namely Box2.
The weather was dry and much more conducive to nesting than most days have been recently, but I never expected the interest that this second box would provoke when it was installed.
But first, our solitary visitor was continuing to pay calls on Box1. This visit was at half past 10 ...
... and this at around 11 o'clock.
By 11:38, John had managed to remount Box2 on the oak tree at the front of the house - the mount had suffered from ivy growing beneath it over the winter - and he had reconnected it.
By 12:15 a bluetit had visited it!
And almost immediately another bluetit entered the box! They were clearly partners as there was no sign of hostility. Indeed it looked like a traditional swap-over maneuver.
The original male occupant left the box so quickly I failed to ccapture a photograph! This is the female left by herself in the box.
Four minutes later one of the two bluetits was back for another visit.
Nothing much happened for the next 50 minutes - and then this happened. Box2 had a visit from a great tit!
They are lovely birds. You can see their head feathers glistening.
All of a sudden, this happened. What on earth was this great tit up to? Was this a display aimed at keeping another bird out of the box, or was this a nesting wriggle?
I think it must have been a nesting wriggle.
Although, clearly the bluetit that visited earlier had been around, so perhaps it was a bit of both!
Anyway, soon after the GT left the box ...
... and flew away.
But a couple of minutes later she was back ...
... having a good look around ...
... and doing an very obvious nesting wriggle! This very early for a blue or great tit to perform a nesting wriggle. Unfortunately I have not reliably recorded when I have first noted this maneuver in the Overview or the Summary files but I am sure I have never seen one performed this early. It's normally been in February or even March!
It could be an exciting season!