Blue Tit Chick Hatching

Blue Tit Chick Hatching

Filmed inside a nestbox with a HD camcorder this video shows a Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) chick as it hatches from an egg.
There are 5 eggs and 3 newly hatched chicks in the box. The eggs are tiny and are only 16mm long x 12 mm wide (0.6 x 0.47 inch).


The video is unedited to show events in real time and has the following content.
Video Timeline
21" Male can be heard calling from outside of the nestbox, female replies then leaves
30" 5 un-hatched eggs and 3 newly hatched chicks moving about in the nest cup
38" The egg at the top of the screen starts to break as the chick breaks through the shell
1' Chick begs for food while another break appears in the egg above
1'24" The egg now has a series of breaks around the middle
2'18" The chick stretches it's body inside the egg and a large crack appears in the egg
3'45" Using all it's strength the chick finally starts to break free
4'40" Female parent arrives back at the nestbox and starts to assist the chick to break free by eating/pulling the egg shell of the chicks head
7' Female parent removes the lower part of the egg shell from the chick and starts to eats it.
7'18" Male parent arrives with a green caterpillar and gives it to the female parent
8' Male parent leaves the nestbox while the female tries to feed the caterpillar to the chicks. The chicks are not hungry so she eats it herself
8'30" Female Parent continues to eat the lower part of the egg shell
9'13" Female parent leaves the nestbox with the remnants of the egg in her beak
10' Female parent returns to sit on the nest and do some clearing up of the nest cup

Blue Tit Chicks 24 days from hatching to fledging

Blue Tit Chicks being fed by both parents

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Filmed over a week using motion detected time lapse this Blue Tit female can be seen building her nest using various materials.

Filmed using i-Catcher software motion detected recording.

Blue Tit Chicks hatching 2009 (with sound)

Filmed at the moment a chick hatches. The female parent can be seen helping the chick break free from the egg.

Filmed using a DV camcorder mounted in a nest box.

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9 noisy Blue Tit chicks filmed just before fledging being fed by both parents.

Filmed using a DV camcorder mounted in a nest box.

Blue Tit Chicks hatching 2008 (with sound)

Tiny Blue Tit chick in the final moments of hatching out.

Filmed using a DV camcorder mounted in a nest box.

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A female Great Tit Filmed in motion detected time lapse over 17 days from the start of nest building through to egg laying then up to the start of incubation.

Filmed using i-Catcher software motion detected recording.

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A series of short day by day clips recording the life and development of Blue Tit Chicks from the moment of hatching to the time they fledge.

Filmed using a DV camcorder mounted in a nest box.

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Filmed for 12 hours a day for 18 days as the chicks grow and fledge. Only a single chick lives to fly the nest.
Time lapse 1 sec is 1 hour @100fps

Filmed using i-Catcher software time lapse function.

iCatcher Software working on Windows 7

A demo of my nest box recording setup showing i-Catcher software working live on my desktop as Blue Tit and Great Tits feed their young chicks at the nest.

Bird bath Time Lapse

This video shows the activity at a bird bath over an 8 hour period and was filmed using time-lapse mode in iCatcher sotware on my PC. The sound was recorded at the same spot using a camcorder and added in later over the video. The bird bath is fed from a 4ft high cast iron water pump. The water is pumped from a sump below the stones through the cast iron pump and into the leaking bucket. The water leaking from the bucket creates a nice loud "splashing" sound as it hits the water in the bird bath below. The baths are angled so they overflow into each other and eventually the water ends up back into the sump.

Cast Iron Water Pump Bird Bath

A short clip showing a couple of Black Caps bathing in a bird bath fed by a 4' 6" cast iron water pump.

Male Blue Tits fighting over Nestbox

Blue Tit Chick Hatches

Video of a Blue Tit Chick hatching out (bottom egg) without the help from the female parent

Blue Tit Chicks Day 1

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Blue Tit Chicks Day 18

Blue Tit Chicks Day 19

Blue Tit Chicks Day 20

Blue Tit Chicks Day 20 (part 2)

Blue Tit Chicks Day 21 part 1

Just minutes from fledging. The chicks can be seen jostling for position at the nestbox entrance. The parents do most of their feeding from the outside of the nestbox. 

Blue Tit Chicks Day 21 part 2 

Blue Tit chicks getting ready for fledging with one chick in the nestbox hole. Suddenly a Magpie swoops down and tries to grab the chick in the nestbox entrance.

Blue Tit Chicks Day 21 part 3

First two chicks fledge

Blue Tit Chicks Day 21 part 4

Third chick to fledge gets accidentally knocked out of the nextbox by the female parent after the chick blocks her way out. The rest of the chicks fledge soon after.