The 2019 novelty has been prepared since the autumn of 2018: work in the garden to provide an internet connection, purchase of a suitable webcam, construction of a tailor-made birdhouse (by Guillaume B.) and setting up of the whole system.The 'blue tits of Theding' adventure can begin!

1st hesitating look into the flight hole, the bluetit finally enters inside the birdhouse placed 3 days ago.

When the sun is out, there are many visits in the nestbox. A tit, then two, visit the nest with increased interest: Is it good enough? In any case, the nest is inspected in all corners !!

The female tit is alone in the nest building, about 300 trips were needed! Work began on March 06 and ended on March 28, but a few days of rest were observed; probably because of the bad weather. The female spends her first night at the nest on March 30 ... The laying is near!

After 6 nights at the nest, the female lays her first egg, April 05. Every day 1 new egg appears. This year, 11 eggs were laid.

Brooding, only by the female, began after the laying of the 11th egg on April 15th. It will last 2 weeks. It is the male who will feed the female during this period.

The first birth was on April 25 at 10:30. The male immediately brought food for the newborn.

The 11 births were chained within 24 hours. (30/04)

The 11 chicks are fed by both parents. Fecal bags are removed to keep the nest clean; in addition, they are far from the other nest box so as not to attract predators (05/05)..

The female maintains an impeccable cleanliness in the nest box. For this, she constantly checks the bowl and moves the chicks regularly so as not to miss any droppings at the bottom. From time to time, it happens that a chick is jostled. (07/05)

One of the chicks is found dead in the bowl. The mother gets him out of the nest box. (08/05)

The growth of chicks is fast! It's been two weeks since they were born. (13/05)

2 chicks died the same evening. The task of getting them out was difficult: long minutes of hard work! (15/05)

Here is a video clip showing the tiring routine of the parents: many round trips to feed the whole brood. So far, it has been difficult to know the exact number of chicks present. They were 11 at the beginning, there are currently 7 left, 3 corpse evacuations were recorded. So, a 4th chick had to be vacated after his death, but in a more discreet way. (18/05)

All the chicks took flight in the space of 30 minutes! Once the 1st one took off, the others were eager to follow him. The juveniles stayed 22 days at the nest. No 2nd nest this year. (21/05)

In the fall, this autumn the nest box has been thoroughly cleaned. The moss was removed and the walls were brushed and disinfected ; This avoids any contamination of the future brood 2020. Finally, 7 cm of waste material (about 13 cm wide and 13 cm long) was removed... and checking further, a chick was found in the middle of the moss. The parents had not managed to extract it from the birdhouse (see video of 15/05).

To not miss the beginning of the next Théding ‘Mésanges’ tits adventure, subscribe to the newsletter at the bottom of the page. Thus, you will be notified by email of the webcam activation in 2020, but also get news from the website. You can also subscribe to the YouTube channel to be notified of new videos or the launch of the live stream (click on 'view more'). See you soon !