Friday, April 18, 2008

Chickadee nest



Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) have made a nest in one of our bluebird boxes. It's apparently not an agreeable spot for bluebirds -- none have nested there in three years -- so I'm glad the chickadees found it.



I was surprised at the amount of cedar tips cushioning the nest.

There's a little blue feather on the lower right of the first picture, and I wonder where it came from. Did bluebirds start the nest, and the chickadees just finished it? Or maybe a bluebird stuck his head in to see what was going on, and left a calling card.

The chickadees could have just picked up a pretty soft blue thing as building material. We see swallows picking up duck feathers all the time, so I know some birds "feather their nest" with other species' feathers.

One of the first birdsongs I learned was the Carolina Chickadee's. A friend and I chased all over her property for a frustrating hour before we finally pinpointed the bird who sounded exactly like a rusty porch swing. You can listen to him here.

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Friday Ark is up!

14 comments:

  1. That looks really comfortable...birds sure know what they're doing! Maybe that blue feather is a trophy from a brawl with a bluejay? :)

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  2. My goodness...what a sweet little nest...I listened to the sounds as well...so sweet...I've come across your blog quite by good fortune I believe :)...I live on the Gulf coast of Florida...so I am completely fascinated with your world...Love your pictures..Dee Dee

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  3. Nice to see that chickadee nest. I'm pretty sure we have at least one nest box that the chickadees have their eyes on. Here the Violet-Green swallows compete with them like crazy.

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  4. I'd be happy with chickadees, too!
    Their nest reminds me of the princess and the pea--such a high mattress!

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  5. I think they are using a new box I put up too.
    Cool interior view.

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  6. Anonymous5:13 PM

    Wonderful! I've never seen a chickadee nest.

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  7. I'm excited to see that.

    I've heard about birds pulling dog hair from a dog sitting on the porch to add to their nest. Crazy birds.

    Today I was walking near a small lake and saw an Oriole nest made out of Christmas tinsel! The boy scouts have a discarded Christmas tree dump there that is set out for habitat.

    I'd love to see that Chicadee

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  8. Thanks to my Grandmother, she showed me the lots of birds and helped me identify them when I was just a wee-tot. The CC were and still are some of my favorites to watch. Thanks for sharing the nest, I've never seen one before :)

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  9. Chickadee's are one of my favorite birds! I had one eating from my hand about a month ago! A really neat experience! Can't wait to see the babies!!

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  10. Lisa, could be, you never know. :)

    Deedee, thanks, yes they are sweet-looking, but they sure do like to fuss at you!

    Robin, I wish our swallows here would use a box like yours do... but I've never seen them so it.

    IRB, thanks, I don't think I'd ever seen a chickadee nest before either.

    Nina, I thought exactly the same thing! :)

    FC, I don't think ours is facing the right direction for bluebirds, but I'm glad it was put to use (by something other than wasps) finally.

    Amy, it makes me wish I had a nest-cam! :)

    Pamela, yes they use all sorts of things for their nests! I think they could make 10,000 of them from our dog...

    KF, I wish I'd gotten started earlier on bird knowledge! I never paid any attention at all to them until my late 20s or so.

    Kerri, I wish these would do that! But the Carolina chickadees are more shy than some of the other chickadee types I guess.

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  11. Anonymous9:06 PM

    I just love when Chickadee's nest in my box! The nestlings are soo cute!

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  12. We missed the babies, but they are all gone now so I'm assuming they fledged ok.

    My hubby took this pic. When I saw it in person I realized that what I assumed was cedar tips is actually moss.

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  13. A pair of chickadees just finished raising a brood of 5 in my backyard box. I watched all 5 babies fly successfully from the box yesterday. It was enjoyable watching Mom and Dad in action caring for the youngsters. They attacked a squirrel that came too close. Question: Should I remove the next from the box to make the house ready for the next usage?

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  14. Great nest, I have black capped chickadees in a bird house on my deck. Have your egss hatched? I listened to the sound recording and the difference between "my" bird and yours is amazing. I guess East Coast and West Coast makes a difference in how chickadees sing :)
    Check out "evolution of a bird nest" on my blog
    http://hchristine.blogspot.com/
    You may have to scroll through a few posts, but the building process is amazing and you will have to note the pink fuzz in my nest and no other feathers, but mine used raccoon fur!!!

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