Improvised shelter

[Keith_Beef]

This is my letterbox. Nothing unusual you might think, but it lets in the rain, and so the previous owners had put some gravel and small stones in the bottom, so that the letters would be resting on dry(ish) stones, rather in a puddle.

And this is the back of the letterbox.

Now, a couple of weeks ago, I opened the letterbox and saw that if had a thick layer of moss inside it. I thought the kids had put it there, on top of the stones.

But they told me they'd not done that. and after another week or so, I noticed that there were some clumps of white horsehair, too. And today, I had a look inside and saw that a bird had built a nest in the letterbox.

A better view of the six eggs.

And a final close up shot.

I didn't want to touch the eggs, so I didn't measure them; but I guess that they're around 5/8" long and are probably some species of tit.

What do you lot think?

 

[Joe tahkahikew]

My English friend has just told me those are a Robin's eggs/nest - not the same as our North American Robin but the bird you put on christmas cards.

I just told him they was picture of bird nest here and knew he'd be able to tell me what it was.

 

[Janne]

Where is the gap that lets the rain and bird in?

I wonder if the bird will succeed with the eggs?

 

[Keith_Beef]

I think that the rain gets in through that gap in the back, that the bird must be using to get in and out. There was never an enormous amount of water inside, but if one corner of an envelope touches the bottom of the metal box, it wicks the water up into the rest.

Anyway, I had been thinking that the next must have been abandoned; I couldn't imagine that the bird would tolerate letters and adverts being dropped into its nest every couple of days. But I opened the door last night to check on it, and the bird was covering its eggs.

I didn't want to disturb it any more than necessary, so I quickly and gently closed the door. It's definitely a tit of some sort, greyish blue and black. Later today, when the air has warmed up a bit, I'm going to seal the lid shut with duct tape and mark it as unusable...

 

[Nomad64]

Nice find and hopefully there is a happy ending.

Surely though the letterbox intended to be mounted flush to a fence, gate or door with a hole cut in it so the letters go through the slot and you collect through the door on the other side?

 

[Keith_Beef]

Nice find and hopefully there is a happy ending.

Surely though the letterbox intended to be mounted flush to a fence, gate or door with a hole cut in it so the letters go through the slot and you collect through the door on the other side?

Not this one, a fairly standard design for France: there is a flap lid at the top, the postie lifts that and drops in the letters. For bigger packets, the post office issues master keys so that the postie can open the bigger door (that one photo shows open). Ours doesn't like to do that, because there's a big spider that lives inside for much of the year. She (postie) once left a little note asking us to evict the spider.

 

[Keith_Beef]

An update: the nest hasn't been abandoned.

I went out to tape the top and front shut, and the bird flew out of the slot at the back. It stayed in the privet bush not too far away, so got a better look at it, and I think it's a Great Tit.

A couple of hours later, SWMBO came out wanting me to mark something on it to let the postie know why it was taped shut, and with instructions to leave post in a plant pot with a cover over it, underneath the letter box... And the bird flew out again and fluttered around in the privet shouting loudly.

So I'm fairly confident that our actions haven't frightened the bird into abandoning its nest, and hope to see some more tits in the summer.

 

[Tony]

Excellent stuff, it's great when things like this happen, it's a like a mini adventure!

 

[Buckshot]

Lovely to see
We had a blackbird at work nest inside a traffic cone!
Worked well untill it was time for the young to leave as they didn't have the strength or skill to get out of the hole at the top.
all the young died because they couldn't get out.
i hope the exit slot is low enough for the young to fly/hop/jump up to. Otherwise it may help to put a stick or something for them to use as a ladder?

 

[bearbait]

Amused to see your birds nesting in the post box.

I have several Dormouse boxes and bird boxes around in my bit of woodland.

Found a Dormouse living in one of the bird boxes and a Blue Tit nesting in the Dormouse box.

They just don't care...