Great Tit Progress

Our pair of Great Tits appear to have finished nest building. Now, something different and, perhaps, more entertaining is going on.

We have patio furniture beneath the nest box – away from the house wall but basically beneath the box. I had recently spotted one of the Great Tits, I think the male, perching on the back of one of the chairs chirping occasionally. He would sometimes change position to another chair back, or the table, and chirp again. This behaviour  went on for several minutes.

Yesterday the same thing happened twice, once around lunchtime and again in the early evening, which is when these pictures were taken through a not-entirely-clean kitchen window. The chirping male frequently glanced up at the nest box. Once or twice he even flew up to the box then returned to his perch. On both occasions, the episode finished when the partner flew out of the nest box.

Here’s our theory, which may be total rubbish. 🙂

We suspect that this happens when Mrs. Great Tit visits the nest to lay an egg. Mr. Great Tit agitatedly paces around outside the delivery room like an expectant father, keeps in verbal touch and every now and then pops his head around the door to check on progress. Eventually Mrs. Great Tit gets through with her task and flies off to brew up another.

We know that swans, for example, lay an egg a day for up to seven days before sitting on the completed clutch to begin incubation. Egg development doesn’t start until they are brought up to a certain temperature by being incubated. We think that’s what’s going on here.