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Post by pete11 on Dec 15, 2021 13:37:57 GMT
Just optimistically starting this before the end of the year. I've had the same GT rooster every night without fail since July. Cold sunny mornings this week & last week have seen fairly lengthy investigations by BTs, too. The GT rooster has created quite a pile of droppings over these few months. Wondering if I should try and clear them out with some boiling water, or just leave them .... they don't seem to be bothering the birds. Any advice welcome! I'll post a pic soon so you can visualise the guano issue  |
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Post by pete11 on Dec 15, 2021 14:05:31 GMT
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Post by sammi on Dec 16, 2021 8:44:23 GMT
Hi Pete Great to see your rooster pics. I have a male bluetit rooster and the mess is piling up too but come early spring I've seen some intense spring cleaning take place so personally I wouldn't worry. I sometimes wonder if it's a deterrent to keep other birds out  Good luck for the spring. |
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Post by pete11 on Dec 17, 2021 14:12:06 GMT
Thanks sammiGood to hear re: spring cleaning I think I’ve seen other bird box video clips that concur with that. I guess in any unmonitored nesting/roosting site they’d have to deal with poo pile-ups of all sorts so they must have some kind of innate methods to deal with it. Good luck to you too for the spring. |
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Post by karenupnorth on Dec 17, 2021 15:35:15 GMT
Great to see your rooster Pete and some activity from the BTs, been same here in Yorkshire, lots of viewings from the males and a bit of flirting.  My rooster has large accumulations of poo too despite being a female, she does though manage to sweep it to one side and keeps the central area clean!  |
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Post by pete11 on Dec 18, 2021 10:23:08 GMT
karenupnorth good to read your poo observations It almost looks to me as if my GT rooster’s using poo as a draught excluder!
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Post by karenupnorth on Dec 18, 2021 15:11:53 GMT
Poo does have its uses! |
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Post by pete11 on Jan 1, 2022 17:07:49 GMT
Happy 2022 everyone.
Pair of BTs paying lots of visits to my nest box over the past week.
GT still roosting every night, though.
Can't help wondering if there's going to be a big battle over it some time in the coming months.
Looking closely at the BTs' activity today it seems they're having a go at cleaning out some of the GT droppings poo-by-poo.
At one point (around 01:12 into the video) the female (I think it's the female as she enters the box second after the male?) picks up a poo and then flies up into the nest box roof space and then drops it - maybe confused trying to find the entrance hole?
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Post by karenupnorth on Jan 2, 2022 12:45:14 GMT
Hi Pete.
Lots of activity at the moment, great to see. Good sign if the BTs are poo cleaning, she has her work cut out though bless her.
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Post by pete11 on Jan 5, 2022 14:37:13 GMT
BTs very busy today on a big spring cleaning mission  - back and forth removing lots of poop and bits of muck/feather. Two half-hour-long sessions during the morning. Towards the end of the second session, the GT rooster (or maybe another interested GT) popped into the box as if to check up what on earth's been going on - it hung around in there a fair old while looking a bit perplexed! Or so I thought.... until just now, mid-afternoon, when the BTs were clearly trying to continue the spring clean, but that solitary GT seemed to muscle in on the scene, enter the box, and stay there as if to deter the BTs. One of the BTs was waiting just outside, but after a minute or two decided to give up and retreat. The GT stayed in the box for some time after that, before finally deciding the coast was clear. I've noticed there are three BTs in this little group, so maybe two females and one male? I'm a bit worried the solitary GT is going to spoil everything for the BTs and they'll end up having to choose somewhere else!  Here's a rather long video of one of today's spring clean sessions. With added sounds of building work going on up the road in the background  ... it ends with the GT occupying the box in protest (and picking up a piece of poo?) |
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Post by matt on Jan 5, 2022 16:17:15 GMT
Looking good Pete, plenty of interest already! Fingers crossed it happens for you this year.
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Post by pete11 on Jan 5, 2022 20:10:29 GMT
Thanks matt - fingers crossed as you say. Good luck with yours too. |
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Post by pete11 on Jan 5, 2022 23:39:45 GMT
War declared at 14:07:45 GMT today! Great tit (think it's my long-term rooster) staging a sit-in protest this afternoon to try and deter the Blue tit spring-cleaners.   |
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Post by matt on Jan 6, 2022 16:47:32 GMT
Just a stand off and not a nasty fight, I hope? Plenty of interest so early on can only be a good thing!
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Post by pete11 on Jan 6, 2022 18:54:33 GMT
Just a stand off really matt - BT scarpered immediately. Kind of wish the GT hadn't staked such an early claim (i.e. back in July, if it is indeed the rooster) - the BT pair seem to have so much interest it'd be a shame if the solitary GT prevented them from using the box. Obviously if the GT finds a mate and I get a nest happening I'll be glad in a way but it'd be nice to see all the BT's spring cleaning paying off. Guess what will be will be - all to play for at the moment, clearly! |
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Post by karenupnorth on Jan 7, 2022 7:08:28 GMT
Glad they didnt have a proper punch up. I cant bare to see them fighting. I decided to use the smallest entrance hole to prevent BTs and GTs clashing, but do feel bad that I am excluding the GTs  as I would love a GT nest. Hope they sort themselves out peacefully! |
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Post by pete11 on Jan 7, 2022 13:01:41 GMT
The thought had crossed my mind that the 32mm entrance hole is the cause of all the competition.
I did buy a 25mm dia. metal plate last year thinking I'd make the hole more predator-proof, but I looked at it and it seemed so tiny I wondered how anything would fit through it at all, so I decided not to fit it.
Kind of wishing I had now.
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Post by karenupnorth on Jan 7, 2022 19:16:19 GMT
I have the 25mm on and its a squeeze for some but they manage ok and hasnt put them off. I think there is a 28mm too I think.
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Post by pete11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:48:54 GMT
Slightly tempting to put the 25mm plate on now! But I'd feel mean shutting the GT out.
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Post by Ann70 on Jan 8, 2022 9:22:28 GMT
Hi Peter
If I had to decide I would put on a 28mm and you will have either bird choose who will win over the box
I know 36 mm is ideal for g t but they can manage 28 mm if they really want the box
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Post by pete11 on Jan 8, 2022 16:57:44 GMT
Hmm, thanks that's a thought. Although I suppose since the GTs could manage 28mm anyway then there'd still be competition, so on that basis I might as well leave it at 32mm? But I guess what you're saying is they might at least be a little less keen, especially if the other aspects of the box aren't perfect (no idea if it is 'perfect' in other respects - probably isn't!). Whatever I do I need to do it soon  |
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Post by karenupnorth on Jan 8, 2022 23:45:00 GMT
Its a real predicament Pete, especially as you have a GT roosting right now, do you have any other boxes? If so you could try a 25mm on it and leave the other one as it is. I guess it comes down to if you prefer BTs over GTs, or you dont mind .  |
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Post by pete11 on Jan 9, 2022 15:02:45 GMT
I only have the one box karenupnorth I think I'm going to have to just leave things as they are, at least for this season... in a way I feel my GT rooster has earned its place in the box having been in there each and every night for the best part of 6 months  So if I suddenly threw it a curveball in the shape of a 25mm plate on the entrance, I'd feel really mean. In the end, I don't mind who wins as long as they make proper use of the box and nest in it! I just hope the two interested parties can resolve things amicably without a nasty fight. Incidentally, a bit of idle Googling on the topic of GT/BT competition found this New Scientist article from 2015. A study in Spain showed GTs and BTs sometimes lay a sneaky egg or two in their rival's nest, and the resulting chicks grow up believing they're the enemy species. It's called "brood parasitism". Apparently adopted BT chicks brought up by GTs eventually realise they're BTs, and revert their behaviour back; but strangely when it's the other way around, adopted GT chicks brought up by BTs spend their entire lives thinking they're BTs |
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Post by karenupnorth on Jan 10, 2022 7:30:00 GMT
Good decision Pete, they will sort it out and the one that perseveres will win, next year you could make the change if you feel like it. That is very interesting about the BTs and GTs will give it a read. Thanks for sharing |
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Post by pete11 on Jan 10, 2022 15:06:36 GMT
Another very short GT v BT standoff in the box this morning  Several short mid-air battles outside in the garden, too: the GT seems to be defending the whole patch whenever the BTs are around, flying directly at them when they're sitting on a branch too close, and definitely rushing at them if they look at all as if they're heading for the box. The BTs are still intrepidly checking out the box when they can, but they seem a lot more nervous/cautious now. GT has picked up a couple of bits of poo itself, too, looking like a very very half-hearted attempt at spring cleaning. |
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My rooster has large accumulations of poo too despite being a female, she does though manage to sweep it to one side and keeps the central area clean! 
- back and forth removing lots of poop and bits of muck/feather.
... it ends with the GT occupying the box in protest (and picking up a piece of poo?)
as I would love a GT nest. Hope they sort themselves out peacefully!
