The Tufted Titmouse That Wouldn’t Quit – Part 4

We’ve Got Some Tufted Titmouse Mouths To Feed

So far, I’ve told you about my first ever tufted titmouse couple choosing a bluebird box. I told you how they started building and then seemingly abandoning it.

Next, I showed you the marvel of engineering that can happen when a tufted titmouse mother decides a nest has got to happen NOW!

The last post was all about the tufted titmouse mom laying seven eggs and getting the first glimpse of the babies hatching.

In this post, I’ll show you some more pics of the growing chicks and show you a video of the parents feeding them frantically. 

Make That Seven Mouths To Feed

Could you imagine being the parents of septuplets all born within a day of each other? Me neither. I can’t believe that neither of them had to be checked into some kind of tufted titmouse facility when she was finished-LOL! As you can tell by the video below the parents had their hands full! This is an edited and time compressed video I think it makes the point.

Both parents share the feeding duties. As you can see, it kept them very busy each day. I think what amazed me the most was the teamwork involved. A number of times I could see one in the box feeding while another waited their turn. Other times, they would bring food to the parent in the box. Kind of a tag team affair.

Although I can’t be sure, it looked like they were feeding them inch worms among other things. They were very careful early on to feed them the body and take the head away. Very cool! See if you can’t see that in the video above.

How About Some More Pics?

Below, you’ll see the best I could do to get a shot of them in the nest just after they started filling in their feathers. I apologize because the lighting wouldn’t cooperate. Also, I wanted to disturb them as little as possible.

Have a look.

Don’t forget to click on each pic to see the full sized version and click it again to go back to the post.

If you look very closely in each of them, you’ll see their little beaks. Very sweet!

Do You Count Five or More?

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m afraid I may have caused the mother to lose and egg or two when she was striking at me. I hope I’m wrong but I thought I saw her taking egg shell pieces out of the nest before they started hatching. I really hope I’m wrong. It’s such a challenge to photograph them and get an accurate count without disturbing them too much.

Let me know how many you count.

Next up: Time To Leave The Nest

In my final installment of this story, I’ll show you the last shots I got of the fledglings before they became fledglings. A video of them sticking their heads out and looking around. You’ll see just how tiring it can be for them to get themselves up into the hole. Some very funny shots for sure.

Then, I have to tell an epic fail story to tell you. It underscores how important it is for us to accept when we make a mistake and make the best of it. Stay tuned for that, ok?

As always, if you enjoyed this post, please share it on your favorite social media platform using the buttons below. Also, leave me a comment and let me know if you have any experience with tufted titmice nesting in your back yard. Or, just let me know what you’d like to see covered in future posts on the blog.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Jeff