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Post by matt on Mar 1, 2022 22:42:46 GMT
Interesting Pete! Yeah the BT didn't seem too bothered? It's going to be interesting watching how this one plays out.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 2, 2022 20:49:20 GMT
Damp, cold weather today - not much action. Four or five double BT visits but all very brief. Found evidence of another GT/BT box stand-off from back on the 26th Feb, again at roosting time, where again the BT doesn't seem to scarper immediately: Plus... hard to tell really, but I'm starting to wonder if the roosting GT is in fact two birds. I've read somewhere that GT pairs sometimes take turns roosting in a box, and purely based on these two stand-off pics from last Sat (26th Feb) and last night (1st Mar), the black breast stripe looks slightly different in each. I guess it could just be feathers ruffling differently, but one stripe looks thinner than the other: 26th Feb: 1st Mar:
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Post by matt on Mar 2, 2022 23:16:44 GMT
See what you mean Pete - that breast area does look quite different. So hard to tell birds apart though - Karen is the best at that on this forum!
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Post by pete11 on Mar 3, 2022 21:50:43 GMT
Another standoff tonight BT getting pretty bold - tried three times to get in with the GT already having snuck in there. BT pair were fussing round the box and in a nearby shrub for about 30 mins before this, with the male popping in and checking every so often. GT arrived on the scene late on, but the BTs were doing a great job of hassling it and shooing it away until the GT clearly just managed to get into the box with the BT hot on its heels. That BT male certainly seems to be getting pretty bold and feisty. But the GT defence seems to have stepped up a notch, too. I really hope this doesn't end badly.
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Post by karenupnorth on Mar 4, 2022 7:05:17 GMT
Awe these birds do put us through stress, I think that is two different GTs going by the black stripe and the black collar, probably a pair Pete. I hope it ends peacefully
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Post by pete11 on Mar 5, 2022 0:07:00 GMT
Busy day for the BTs again today by the looks of things. Not sure if there was another GT/BT standoff yet as I haven't looked through all the footage, but a GT ended up roosting once again.
Meanwhile... initial experiments with my new trail camera yielded a few early morning shots of the Robin visiting the nest-in-progress. To bring the focus closer on the camera I've added a couple of +2 lenses from a pair of cheap reading glasses over the front of the camera lens. Seems to work - sort of! A rain shower didn't help, causing some blurry spots. I haven't quite got the focus right, either. And the camera is on the top of a garden pole and swings in the wind a fair bit! Might have to have a think about that.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 5, 2022 14:46:21 GMT
Yesterday's footage reveals quite a lengthy series of GT/BT standoffs towards the end of the day, and also another earlier in the day. The male BT seemed really determined, though - every time the GT vacated the box following a standoff he snuck in there and picked up another piece of poo! But yet again GT finally bagged the box at the end for another night's roosting.
Cold north wind today seems to have quietened down activity overall - BT seems just to be peeping in every so often to take a cautious look. But the GT was in the box for a good few mins during this morning, just craftily waiting for the BT to land on the entrance hole. Several standoffs as a result.
Really feeling sorry for the BTs at the moment as they've invested so much effort in spring cleaning so far since the very start of the year.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 5, 2022 18:52:31 GMT
A few more robin nest trail cam shots from early this morning. Female(?) arriving and settling into the nest, coming and going a bit, then cut to later in the morning to a nice little moment where the male's feeding the female North wind picked up later and brought some rain, so lots of camera false triggers. Still a bit blurry in daylight.. it kind of works best at dawn on infra red. The contrast in daylight means the actual nest is underexposed/dark. I'm going to try just one of the +2 reading lenses next, and see if it pushes the focus into the nest a bit more.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 7, 2022 23:18:48 GMT
Hmm, BT visits have suddenly gone right down today and yesterday - hardly anything at all, just an odd head peeping in once or twice in the day. Is it the chilly windy weather we've been having Or is it tying in with Matt's theory of visits ramping up in Feb then down again in March? There's been one instance of a GT barrelling right into the nest box knocking a BT off the hole entrance hole as it was tentatively hanging there just about to peep its head in. Almost seems as if the GT(s) has/have won the battle already. Meanwhile, the trail cam has captured more robin stuff. She seems to be settling into the nest, and I'm almost certain she roosted the whole night last night. In fact the footage from last night around 9.30pm shows that she was in the nest already right in front of me in the dark as I fiddled with the camera and swapped the SD card etc! Didn't budge, didn't seem bothered, just sat there watching, before sleeping all snuggled down, and staying on in there until at least 9am the next morning, and returning at around 6pm this evening...again as I fiddled with the camera she was there in the dark once more, peeping out at me (only proved later on the video). Bless!
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Post by karenupnorth on Mar 8, 2022 9:29:28 GMT
Could be the weather Pete, very cold here too but bright, only visits I get is Judith mucking out from night before, closely followed by Glenn. Hopefully they have sorted out ownership of the box, we will soon know,
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Post by matt on Mar 8, 2022 14:17:52 GMT
Bit quieter here too, Pete. I do think there is something to the theory that they inspect and choose, and then perhaps hang back until they get whatever signal they need to start nesting. For me that has always meant a quieter March than Feb, then nesting kicking off in April, but it does seem to vary a lot over the country and (another theory of mine!) by local food source. E.g. if they are planning to feed the chicks on caterpillars on new tree leaves, then that will drive nesting time to some extent. I'm pretty sure most of my local BTs forage extensively in the nearby oak trees, and they are later in leaf than some other species. Hence things generally on the later side for me, but quite a bit earlier for others - even people up North!
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Post by pete11 on Mar 8, 2022 17:09:22 GMT
Thanks Matt. Your theory sounds highly plausible. Ironically, no sooner have I said it's all a bit quiet, than I look out of the window about an hour ago and see the male BT pop right into my new box and spend about 4 minutes in there, sometimes poking his head out and clearly doing a thorough scope-out of the joint. Of course I wasn't running a recording on that camera stream... of course not...
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Post by matt on Mar 8, 2022 18:11:10 GMT
Yes, plausible Pete but just speculation really! You might have early starters, so maybe you won't get a gap - or maybe my gaps were caused by other things (abandoned first nests etc). Either way, when she starts you'll know - a quick wriggle or two, perhaps, and then she'll just get on with it. Any time from now really!
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Post by pete11 on Mar 9, 2022 12:40:56 GMT
Thanks Matt. Fingers crossed! Meanwhile, another BT visit to the new box - male & female took turns this time. Bit windy and the new box is on a wooden pole so sways slightly. You can see the birds almost wobble as they try to maintain balance! Nice angle for the camera though, I think. I definitely prefer the picture from this box to the overhead one in the tree box.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 9, 2022 14:07:09 GMT
And a bit more Robin activity from yesterday. She's definitely been roosting in the nest overnight, and seems to spend quite a bit of time in there during the day now. I actually think there are two males interested - I saw both of them doing displays and she left the nest to join them on top of the fence this morning. At least one of the males is feeding her on the nest (brief glimpse of this in the video).
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Post by pete11 on Mar 12, 2022 14:21:36 GMT
Any tips on how to tell what stage a robin nest is at? My main issue is my trail cam can't see into the nest cup. Over the last 48hrs she's been spending most of the day on the nest, with a bit of coming and going, but quite often shuffling from side to side 'settling' as if there's something under her, and a few times looking intently down into the nest cup.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 12, 2022 14:24:23 GMT
A few more double BT visits to the new box today/yesterday. Mid morning today there were some definite shuffles/wriggles - but from markings and comparisons, this looks like the male doing them?
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Post by karenupnorth on Mar 12, 2022 14:52:11 GMT
Pauls robin as laid its first egg on his thread, did it start about the same time as your nest? I would say if she has stopped building and spending more time in nest she must be at laying stage.
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Post by WildlifePaul on Mar 12, 2022 16:43:43 GMT
Sounds like egg laying has begun to me Pete, Why don't you go and have a peak when she isn't in the nest.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 12, 2022 17:23:07 GMT
Yes good idea.
This is the kind of thing I mean - 'settling' every so often, and looking down/preening/generally fussing
I'll choose my moment to go and take a peek!
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Post by pete11 on Mar 12, 2022 21:44:01 GMT
Pauls robin as laid its first egg on his thread, did it start about the same time as your nest? I would say if she has stopped building and spending more time in nest she must be at laying stage. I think you must be right Karen. Haven't had a chance to take a peep yet (following Paul's suggestion) but will try tomorrow.
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Post by linda1963 on Mar 13, 2022 11:16:17 GMT
Hi all I have had a pair of BT’s in and out of my box for a couple of weeks. Over the last couple of days the female has brought in moss and doing nest wiggles! Not put a new camera in yet but this one will be ok for this year. Fingers crossed I will get a nest this year. I had one last year but the male disappeared but she successfully fledged 3 chicks on her own
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Post by pete11 on Mar 13, 2022 16:27:27 GMT
Hi Linda Great news about your BTs! You should probably start your own thread in the Bird Boxes section (click "Create Thread" on this page <--click link) and post any updates there - that way everyone will see them straightaway. Good luck with the wriggles !
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Post by pete11 on Mar 13, 2022 18:14:18 GMT
Big contrast today on the BT action.... literally no visits at all, with the exception of one short cling-to-the-entrance of the new box around 9am. Hmmm.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 14, 2022 20:29:48 GMT
And just when I was beginning to lose all hope, suddenly all is made good again by the BTs double visit to my new box around 3pm today. Amazing how these little birds have me on tenterhooks! They have no idea of their power! Still not managed to sneak a peek at the robin nest, though, to check for eggs. She's so well-hidden, I have to search for her through binoculars from the other side of the garden. Every time I've done that today she's been sitting there. I'm guessing there must be eggs by now. I've read that incubation takes 13 days - the nest was kind of finished on 26th Feb, so if eggs appeared a few days later things could be moving on to hatching any time soon?
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