Courtship

Ok so I know this isn't the sharpest image but I was so pleased to capture this moment that I wanted to share it. It is after all undeniably cute.

I had been watching the bird on the right flying about collecting seeds and stuff and then noticed the other fly up to this high branch where the other bird joined it and offered tasty morsels of food. I was puzzled to see this as clearly the birds are both adults and anyway it is a little early for Blue Tits to be fledging. I wondered if perhaps the bird on the left was from an earlier brood but of course it is only April so again that would not explain this behaviour.

I spoke about this to a friend who regularly has Blue Tits nesting in their garden and they reported having recently witnessed similar behaviour so I decided to do a little research. I found an old research article which discusses this behaviour in detail and if your are interested it might be worth a look. 

It makes sense that while birds are nesting one adult bird will gather food and feed the partner who is sitting on the nest but here feeding behaviour away from the nest is part of the courtship rituals and is regarded as an important step in strengthening the bond between the adult birds. Perhaps it is the Tit version of taking your love out to a fancy restaurant.