Hi Tweets,

Some of you may have already seen this on Birdchat.

Dan Victor, Seattle, WA <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
Tweeters = http://weber.u.washington.edu/~dvictor/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 21:22:54 +0200
From: Ole Post <olp at post5.tele.dk>
To: BIRDCHAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU

Dear Birders

If you have the time, I have a small story to tell from Denmark. How the
smallest, the most weak of our Blue Tits, fared in his first minutes
outside the nestbox.

Now the nestbox was sent to us by Julie, Wisconsin, who all too briefly
visited us last year, a dear acquaintance out of BirdChat. The nestbox is
so cute and decorative, I would have lost a bet against any bird choosing
it. But Hanne, my wife, was adamant: Up it came, hanging under the roof,
so the rain would not spoil it. I was proven wrong, and the Blue Tits
(Parus coeruleus) moved in and frantically build a nest.

This morning, the first, the boldest, of the fledgelings left the box and
flew to a nearby plum-tree. The calls cought Hannes attention, and she saw
it flying into our greenhouse, thru the open tophalf of the door. Bad
idea, she reckoned, and went out to find the little bird. It sat all
bewildered in a tomatoplant. "You left your mom too early" Hanne
whispered, took him and with the help of a small ladder put him back in
the box. Ohh, yes, he protested, and called her all kinds of things, but
in he went. Hanne climbed down and withdrew to our livingroom. Turning
around, she saw him flying out again. Well, it is time. The next one
showed herself in the hole, but was not quick enough to make up her mind.
The next small Blue Tit simply pushed her out and she was clinging to a
small decoration on the box (an artificial spruce-cone).

Number 4 apperared and took no notice of neither borthers nor sisters, out
he went and all three of them more or less fell in the roseplant beneath
the box. Got themselves together and flew into the plum tree. Number 5
peered out and called for breakfast - and sure enough, one of the parents
flew in and obliged. Then number 5 flew out - and things went quiet. Was
that it? After a while Hanne sneaked out and listened. Waited. Yes,
there was one more calling softly from within the box. An hour lated, he
ventured to the hole and looked around. Even smaller and more pale than
the rest. Benjamin. Hanne withdrew again indoors. Suddenly he kind of
fell out of the box, and half flying, half running disappeared around the
corner of our house in the direction of the greenhouse, "He will never
make it" Hanne thought, and went out looking for Benjamin. Nowhere to be
found, and after moving potted plants, boxes and whatg not, she gave up.

Hanne went over to our neighbors (and good friends) to tell her story..

They were sitting in their garden, all saddened by how badly their cat
fared. The cat had hurt himself somehow and they had just returned from
the vet. He was lying in the open door, feeling miserably, and everyone
was having pity on the poor critter, when it suddenly rose and stared into
some small bushed. Hanne, and our neighbors wife, read the signs
immediately.

Injured or not, he was getting ready to hunt. And they knew, what the
prey would be: Benjamin !!

Sure enough, in a split second, the cat took off and cought the tiny Blue
Tit. But within the next split second, Hanne cought the cat by the neck
and shouted: "Spit it out, spit it out" The cat got so confused, it
coughed the bird out, and it fluttered low into some small bushes and fell
to the ground in some high grass. --- Picture this: two not-so-young
ladies on hands and knees crawling around in the weeds trying to find the
Tit, uttering smoothing sounds!!. They found it, and Hanne carried the
bird home, and examined it. No visual damages. So she put in under a
small plastic tray (like a child in a play pen) and called me at work.

The only sensible advice, I could give was to place Benjamin in the plum
tree, where they all started, and then wait and see.

After some ten minutes of regaining his wits, he started to call. First
weakly, then more strongly, and then he was spotted. A parent flew in,
and they made contact.

Benjamin was last seen disappearing in the opposit direction of the
miraculously recovering cat.

Ole Post
Hillerod, Denmark
olp at post5.tele.dk