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Exhibit of the Month 1 / 2016
Nest of the Penduline Tit
Nest found by the pond "Za Pilou" near Mariánské Radčice by a member of the museum's Ornithological Club, Miloslav Anderle, on December 28, 2015. The Penduline Tit (Remiz pendulinus) is a passerine bird related to tits, a migratory species that arrives at breeding grounds in the Czech Republic during April and departs at the end of September, occasionally wintering. It lives around lowland waters, inhabiting forests and thickets with reed and bulrush growth. It moves very nimbly, often hanging upside down on thin twigs, stems, and flower heads of reeds and grasses. Here it finds plenty of food, namely small insects, spiders, and plant seeds.
The male begins building an ingenious pouch-like nest immediately after arriving from its Mediterranean wintering grounds, trying to attract a later arriving female. The structure is made of grass stems, secured to the end twig of a willow, birch, alder, or poplar. Between the stems, plant fibers such as reed, bulrush, willow, and poplar fluff, as well as animal materials, especially fur and spider silk mixed with the bird's saliva, are woven in. If he manages to attract a female, they come together, and the female lays 6 to 8 elongated white eggs in it.
During the incubation of the clutch, which is solely the female's responsibility, the male builds the base of another nest, trying to attract a new partner, and the whole process repeats, sometimes even three times a year. A pair of Penduline Tits builds their elaborate nest in 14 to 16 days, with the final phase of the construction process being the weaving of a side tubular entrance, making it more difficult for predators to attack the already hard-to-reach nest.
The exhibited nest was abandoned after the breeding season, and the entrance collapsed due to winter weather. The following year, it was occupied by another bird species, probably the Blue Tit, which pecked out a replacement entrance.