The video in this post is UGLY. It shows an attack on an active Tufted Titmouse nest by a Flying Squirrel (Flyer). The assumption, due to the timing of the attack in April, is that the Flyer was a nursing mother and was in need of protein. In fact, this may very well have been the female Flyer who was raising her young in a nearby owl house on the property.

The first attack occurred just before 1:00am. You will see the Titmouse look at the Flyer — more like “What are you doing here?” than fear. That quickly changed. The Flyer chased the mother Titmouse out of the house then proceeded to prey on the three-day-old nestlings. The Flyer returned two more times during the night. By daylight, only two of the six nestlings remained.

Amazingly, the mother Titmouse did return to the nest the next day and resumed care of the nestlings. (With the help of friends, we placed an upside-down trash can over the house with the hope of retaining access for the Titmouse while preventing future attacks by the Flyer.)

Three days later, one of the two remaining nestlings died and was removed from the nest by the mother. The one remaining nestling also died and is shown in the video being removed from the owl house.

In the whole of this nightmare, I was left with a feeling of deep admiration for the mother’s commitment to her young. The female Titmouse returned to care for her young in spite of her own brutal attack by the Flyer the night before … and … she braved the presence of a huge trash can covering her house. Finally, even when her last nestling perished, she chose to remove it from the nest rather than abandon it. Her spirit fuels me still in designing and testing a Flyer-proof predator guard. See the Post entitled: “Human versus Flying Squirrel Birdhouse Modifications”.