Jan, one of our SET teachers has a new family resident in a nesting box at the side of her Dad’s house. it began when a pair of Blue Tits chose the nesting box to make a home in April. Very soon Jan and her family spotted six little eggs in the box. After a number of days, exciting developments began to take shape in the box with the hatching of the chicks. Mom and Dad were keeping a good watch on their chicks and even gave some help to chicks finding it hard to break out of the egg. Mom and Dad contine to take turns feeding their hungry hoard. 

Jan has kindly shared these videos with us and she will keep us updated on how the birds grow and change. There is some information on Blue Tits below the videos.

After a few days, eggs begin to hatch. Look how hard it is to break out of their shell. 

Mom and Dad take it in turns to feed the chicks. 

Five chicks remain from the original six. There are the five that have managed to take the most food from Mom and Dad. See how they all open their mouths to get food. They are a lot bigger now. 

Notice how Dad takes out poop from one of the chicks. This is how the nest is kept clean. 

A very exciting event happened in our house this weekend. The baby chicks decided it was time to leave their nest and learn how to fly! We were having a barbeque on Saturday evening outside and suddenly a baby chick tumbled around the corner of the house! We stayed back to let him listen for his Mum’s call so that he could find his way to the tree she was in. He was a bit confused for a little while but then he heard his Mum and he flapped his wings and managed to get over to the fence and then up into the tree. We went in to watch the other chicks on the camera and one by one they all took their turn to push themselves out and have a go at flying. The smallest chick was left until last and when it came to his turn he just wasn’t feeling brave enough. His Mum and Dad kept coming in and out to feed him and encourage him to come out but he didn’t want to go. So he snuggled up in his nest all by himself and stayed for one more night on his own. In the morning his Mum and Dad came back to encourage him to come out again. And this time he built up the courage and finally jumped out of his nest. His Mum and Dad guided him over to the tree and he was reunited with the rest of the chicks! It was such an amazing event to watch and we are so delighted that the family all made it out together. We will miss watching them on the camera now! We will just have to wait until one of the chicks returns next spring to lay their own eggs in the nesting box. Jan

Another Blue Tit flies from the nest. 

See how Mom or Dad continues to feed and encourage the young fledgling. So that is the end of our wonderful journey into Jan’s Blue Tit Nest Box. We have been so lucky that Jan has taken the time to update us regularly on the Blue Tit family from two parents, to parents with eggs, to parents of six then parents of five chicks, to encouraging them all to fly. 

Irish Name:     Meantán gorm        Scientific name:          Parus caeruleus           Bird Family:    Tits

The Blue Tit is one of Ireland’s top 20 most common garden birds. It has a bright blue head, back wings and tail and a yellow underside. It has white cheeks bordered by a dark blue line and it has a dark line through the eyes which make it look like it is wearing an eye mask. It is an active bird usually seen in pairs.

It is a small bird, smaller than a starling and about ¼ the size of a blackbird. It does like bird feeders and you can often see them hanging upside down to get at insects on tree branches. It is resident in Ireland which means it doesn’t migrate or leave Ireland in Winter.

It’s song a clear, quite high-pitched “tsee-hee-he-hee…”. Call a series of scolding chuckles, also many short twitters. 

It eats insects and seeds and is very fond of peanuts from bird feeders.