At the beginning of March, blue tits and tree sparrows were regular visitors to the box although the roosting blue tit stopped sleeping in the box at the end of February. By the middle of March the blue tits were being seen less often and the tree sparrows had started bringing in more nesting material. The nest began to take on a more domed shaped with the tree sparrows often disappearing under the grassy material through an entrance hole to one side of the box. The nest now looks to be complete although the birds have been bringing in feathers to line the nest and spend quite a bit of time in the box.
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- Hiding anything?
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- Building a roof!
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- Tree Sparrows on the box
Tree Sparrows start to breed at the beginning of April, they may well have laid some eggs already which are hidden from sight. We shall have to watch the live feed more at school for evidence that eggs are being incubated. How do you think we might tell whether there are eggs or chicks in the nest?
Update: Checking the live video feed in school on 27th April, it appears that the Tree Sparrows are taking in turns to be in the box, which suggests they are incubating some eggs.
I watched a couple of blue tits having a look at the the box from the outside today. They were reluctant to go in the box but one cheeky blue tit kept poking its head in to pull out some nesting material before discarding it on the ground. They flew off,making a real fuss, when one of the tree sparrows returned to the box.
One of the Tree Sparrows is roosting in the box tonight. It’s not under the nesting material so it can be seen. Does this mean eggs have been or are going to be laid soon?
It has been very hard to see what has been going on in the box since the tree sparrows finished building their domed shaped nest. Occasional glimpses of the birds can be had, mainly as they leave or enter the box. It has been ten days since one of the tree sparrows was spotted roosting in the box, so there could possibly be eggs or even chicks. We haven’t been able to check the live video stream/audio recently because of the Easter break.
Tree sparrows lay 2-9 eggs and have 2-3 clutches over the Spring and Summer. Incubation takes 11-14 days and the chicks fledge 12-14 days after this.