Watch This Birdhouse Go From Empty Nest to First Egg in 8 Minutes

Here’s a neat passage-of-time video that offers an inside look at a mother bird building a home inside a new birdhouse. It goes from empty nest to the first egg in the span of less than 8 minutes.

The little wooden next box was installed on March 5th on the outskirts of the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire, UK. Shortly afterward, a pair of blue tits began building their nest in it.

The British Trust for Ornithology states that blue tits typically spend between one and two weeks building their nest, but the female seen in this time-lapse spent nearly 7 weeks building hers.

“Such a perfectionist,” the channel states. “It might go some way to explain why this nest was so deep!”

Blue tits are famously not picky about where they establish their home, and once they’ve established a suitable nest, they’ll develop a strong attachment to it and continually return to it.

“The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site,” Wikipedia states. “Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession.”

One of the blue tits finding the box and examining it.

The blue tit leaving the box after laying an egg, which can be seen in the back left.

There’s also a follow-up video that shows 21 days from first egg to fledgling chicks in 21 minutes:

The footage was captured with a Green Feathers wired IP camera, which is designed specifically for watching wildlife remotely.

“Mount the camera in your nest box and connect the provided cable into your network to start watching live images,” the camera company writes. “With its advanced imaging, this kit is ideal for nature enthusiasts!”

In addition to streaming live, the YouTube channel publishes edited highlight videos as the creators “follow [the] birds journey from establishing their nest to fledging their chicks.” Viewers who spot something notable are encouraged to comment with the timestamp of moments they’ve found.

Head on over to the nest’s official YouTube channel if you’d like to stay updated on how this bird family is doing.