Month: April 2017

It is now looking like the nest is basically finished.

There seem to have been distinct phases in the way it was built:

1. Mostly moss (days 1-6) – bottom of the box gradually filled up with the location of the eventual nest cup obvious but not having any structure.  Most of her effort seemed to be to spread it out – burrowing under it and occasionally getting on top of the thickest parts and pushing it around.
2. Mostly grass (day 6-7) – once the box floor was covered and no longer visible a lot more grass was introduced and far less moss (though not none).  This was generally scattered in an apparently haphazard way over the top of the moss.  Burrowing under stopped and the nest cup started to gain some structure.
3. Mostly fur and feathers (day 7)- finally almost entirely soft stuff was collected (with the occasional grass introduced but no moss at all).  Some leaves on one occasion (possibly mint).  The nest cup is now quite distinctly formed.  Jumping up and down on the top of the nest material and some wing flapping (almost flight in the box) now being used with fine adjustments of material around the nest cup done with her beak.