Friday 6 May 2011

Friday at the Flicks - Great Tit Sitting on Eggs

Just a short video clip this morning as the electricity meter is being changed some time today and that will interrupt the supply for a while.  I had a feeling there was one egg in the Great Tit nest a couple of days ago but when she leaves the nest she covers everything up so well only the nest can be seen. Fortunately last night I was able to get a quick glimpse of two eggs as she leaned over to have a good scratch.



A snapshot from the video:

Great Tit and Eggs in the Nest Box

She doesn't appear to be incubating them as yet and often leaves the nest leaving the eggs well covered up. She does return from time to time to check that everything is all right. I assume incubation starts when they have all been laid and that leaving them cooler slows down the development so they all hatch at about the same time.

At tea time today I could see there are now three eggs in the nest box:

Great Tit with Three Eggs

10 comments:

  1. Great news lets hope all goes to plan.

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  2. Big grin from over here:) How exciting! Interesting about not incubating the eggs until all are laid. I wonder how long the incubation period is? Here's hoping all goes well.

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  3. Hello Glo. I remember reading, or seeing on the idiot lantern, something about delayed incubation. She left them covered most of the day and then uncovered and left them late on. Mind you, they won't get cold as temps have reached an unexpected 24C today.

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  4. Hi John,
    Great news that the Great Tits are sitting, hopefully there will be good news to come!
    J
    Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

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  5. Love the video and the glimpses of the eggs. Hopefully things will get busy soon!

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  6. Hi John, what absolutely wonderful captures - a proud Mum looking after her eggs so carefully and making sure they are alright. There's a fair bit to go yet but we send you and the Great Tit couple every good wish for a successful completion of laying, hatching & fledging.

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  7. Pleased you liked it Wilma. Incubation should start in a few days time.

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  8. Hello Twosie. I wish I had a decent colour camera in there but at least I can watch what is going on. I should imagine incubation should start in two to four days and then another couple of weeks for any signs of life.

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  9. I have high hopes this year John. Only time will tell.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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