Day 4: Star Species
Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
The last few days I have had a few Blue Tits visiting the garden with their three fledglings. It was another horrible cold day today, but managed to get a few snaps of the fledglings in my neighbours tree.
More about them - The Blue Tit is a colourful little bird; made up of a mix of blue, yellow, white and green. It was one of the most regular garden birds with numbers increasing in the UK. 98% of British gardens have reported having a Blue Tit in them, especially in winter.
They usually breed the third week of April and can lay anything from 7 to 13 eggs. The chicks hatch naked and blind and as they grow the parents have the hard task to feed them. Their main diet at this age is caterpillars and each chick can eat up to 100 caterpillars each day; if there's 10 chicks that's 1000 caterpillars a day!
When they ready to fledge it becomes am extrememly dangerous time for them. They will stay with the parents for a few weeks and learn how to find food and avoid predators quickly. Unfortunately starvation kills many young birds after fledging and the domestic cat is a major cause of mortality.
They usually breed the third week of April and can lay anything from 7 to 13 eggs. The chicks hatch naked and blind and as they grow the parents have the hard task to feed them. Their main diet at this age is caterpillars and each chick can eat up to 100 caterpillars each day; if there's 10 chicks that's 1000 caterpillars a day!
When they ready to fledge it becomes am extrememly dangerous time for them. They will stay with the parents for a few weeks and learn how to find food and avoid predators quickly. Unfortunately starvation kills many young birds after fledging and the domestic cat is a major cause of mortality.
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| Fledgling in the tree (notice how it's cheeks are yellow, not white like the adult) |
Interesting Facts:
- An excited blue tit can be recognised by erect, short crest on the nape.
- Hawks, sparrows, magpies and cats are predators of adult birds, while squirrels also attack chicks.
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