The Tufted Titmouse Story So Far
So far in this series, I’ve told you about my first ever tufted titmouse pair to make a home in one of my bluebird boxes. I was thrilled to have these little birds that I’ve enjoyed in my back yard for many years finally start a family here!
Up to this point we have seen:
Part 1 – The tufted titmouse mom start a nest and seemingly abandon it.
Part 2 – She comes back ready to finish the nest and put some eggs in it toute de suite!
Part 3 – Seven eggs are incubated and hatched successfully. At least I think they are.
Part 4 – We get to see the nestlings and watch a video of mom and pop feeding them.
Today’s post is all about what many human parents both dread and look forward to.
That is…
It’s Time To Leave The Nest!
As much fun as it is to watch the tufted titmouse parents buzzing back and forth to the nest box, eventually they have to leave it. The parents know it and the kids get it after a while. Just like humans, they’re naturally reluctant. Like true titmice, however, they’re also not the most patient with the process-LOL! Today’s video will bear that out, I believe.
You’ll get to see the last pics I have of them in the box before they fledged.
Finally, I’ll tell you about an epic fail that happened to me at the end of this tufted titmouse story. Along with a few shots of the nest I removed afterwards.
How They Looked Just Before They Left
Here are the pics in the box just a few days before they fledged.
Don’t forget you can click on the pics once to see them full sized and then again to close them.
And just for the cool effect, I’ve included a very short youtube video of them just breathing. Very cool!
Here’s an edited YouTube video of the little ones sticking their heads out and getting up into the nest hole. Notice around time marker 13:20 how much effort this takes as the nestling seems to fall asleep waiting for mom or dad to bring them something. I could just imagine the parents up in the tree thinking “Of all the places to fall asleep! You HAD to do it with your head sticking out!” LOL!
Have a look for yourself and see if you agree.
Tai Chi or Not Tai Chi: My Epic Fail
I had been observing and filming the tufted titmouse activity very closely in my back yard. I had not kept a strict log or marked a calendar. Most of the times the guides give you are just ranges anyway. Since I’ve been feeding a watching birds in my back yard for fifteen years, I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing when chicks were ready to leave the nest. It was no different this time around or so I thought.
The day they fledged from the nest, the nestlings were still being fed by mom and dad very frequently. It’s been my experience that when they want them to leave the parents cut WAY back on their visits and food. I’ve had bluebird parents sit up in the trees and downright scold them until they leave the nest. I’ve also seen them land on the box with food and not give it to them. Kind of like “If you want this come and get it”. I observed none of this the morning of my Tai Chi class. So I decided they were not going to fledge that day and went to class as usual.
This turned out to be a big mistake!
When I returned from class there was no activity around the nest box. My heart sunk. A quick run out to the box proved my suspicions correct. There was nobody home! All I found was an empty nest that looked like this.
What I Learned From My Epic Fail
You’ve got to be able to move forward no matter what happens in life. Sure, I could have been totally disgusted and considered the whole project a failure. Not having the video of them leaving the nest did leave a vacuum at the end of the story. But it didn’t make the entire story any less magical and fun. This is reason why I decided to continue on with this series even after this setback.
Aren’t you glad I did? I know I am. This experience has been one that’s changed me even if I thought it was “just another bird fledging” story. Having such an intimate look at such an amazing little bird has given me one more thing to be grateful for in my life. I know I am better for the experience.
As always, let me know if you’ve enjoyed this series by commenting below or using our contact form. Also, I’d really appreciate it if you’d share it using the buttons below with anybody you think would enjoy the story as well.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you!
Jeff
Oh, I enjoyed your story so much!! The Oak Titmouse is my favorite little bird, if it’s possible to have a favorite! I have quite a few species in my yard with birdhouses galore in the trees, but I’ve never put up boxes. My little titmouse will come to the feeder and get one safflower seed and fly up to the oak tree to eat it and then back again. I live in the Santa Monica Mountains near LA and have house finches, nuthatches, spotted and california towhees, grosbeaks, morning doves, orioles, black eyed juncos, wrens, lesser goldfinch, black phoebes and just recently had a Say’s Phoebe make her nest at my front door, which was heartbreaking in the end, but I’m hopeful 2 of them survived. Those little flycatchers were amazing to watch and I had a view from my guest room window about 3 feet away from the nest. For about 6 years in a row, I had a hawk nest in one of my tallest eucalyptus trees and I would spend every afternoon sitting with the babies while mom and dad brought food to the nest. Mom didn’t like me much and stared me down quite often, but the juveniles would come and sit with me on the porch after they fledged. One even came back the next morning and called for me at the back door, I sat with him for most of the day and then he clumsily made his way to the field near my house. I don’t know what I’d do without the birds that make their homes in my trees and yard, I feel so blessed! Now, to have a Titmouse eat out of my hand would be the cherry on top! Thanks so much for sharing!
Parrish
Hi Parrish,
What a beautiful picture you paint of the life you enjoy around you. I hope you understand what an exceptional human you are for even taking the time to notice! Most people are too busy with what’s at the end of their noses to even open up to receive this gift. Cheers to you!
I would love to see any pictures you can share with me/us.
To help you with hand feeding the titmouse (by far the easiest in my opinion) I’ve written a few articles you can find here:
http://birdoculars.com/?s=hand+feeding
Let me know if you need a link to upload any pics to me. Would love to see them!
Best,
Jeff
That’s so kind of you to say! It’s wonderful to connect with a human who has the deep appreciation that I do; as you said, it is rare. The first thing I do each morning is open my french doors to put seed out and change their bath water, then sit back and enjoy the show. I appreciate the link to hand feeding the Titmouse, next time I clean all the feeders, I’m going to try this! I noticed yours have a black mark above their beak and seem a little larger, is this the Tufted Titmouse? I would love to share some photos with you, a few are on my website, but I do have a photo and video of me sitting with my first baby hawk. I’m still trying to capture a Titmouse, they are awfully fast!
Hi Parrish,
The pleasure is all mine!
Yes, that is a Tufted Titmouse.
I’ve had a look at your site and there is some fine work there. Have you uploaded that video to YouTube? That would be the best way for me to share it.
Just so you know, I would love to start a section in the next few months about photographing birds. I’d love to have you contribute to it! Of course, any of your work that is used will link back to your fineartamerica.com store.
Finally, yes, the best time is when the feeders are down. The absolute best time is when it’s cold and you can just only allow them to feed from your hands. As the Handfeeding Birds book states, you may need to start taking down a feeder and gradually moving closer to it each day.
I’m sure you’ll get a great pic too if you can just set a timer after you’ve got them feeding from your hand.
Let me know what you’d like to do.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
I would be happy to contribute to your new section on photographing birds! Just let me know when you’re ready and thank you!
Thank you, Parrish.
I’ll contact you directly to give you more details.
Jeff
Hi Jeff:
I ran across your story as I was looking to i.d a bird nest in one of the blue bird boxes that I monitor.
The final nest you pulled out looks much like the one we found today in a box that wasn’t yet occupied although last week it looked like a little bit of blue bird pine material. The part that really amazed me was the tunnel to the nesting material aligned with the entry hole.
If I could send you a picture, I would as we took several today. I also have the pics of the BB and Carolina Chickadee nestlings totaling 17 for now.
Thank you again for such a pleasant and interesting article. It was very touching. Joni
Hi Joni
So glad you stopped by and that you’re looking after your little friends!
Do you clean out your boxes after each nesting? I’m sure you do but I wanted to check. Just to make sure a house sparrow, who also uses pine needles, (and anything else they can get their grubby mitts on) isn’t fooling you.
I would love to see some pics. I can set up a folder on Google Drive for you and email you the link to upload them. Would that work? Of course, I would never use any of them without your permission.
17 nestlings, WOW! I’ve got me bluebirds still thinking about their annual home apparently-LOL! But chickadees have moved into the other one and had four eggs as of yesterday.
Does my heart good to hear it touched you. I just lost a male goldfinch yesterday and that always affects me. People who don’t love animals don’t understand but I know you do.
Jeff