|
Welcome to
The Bluebird Box
since 1995 |
Chickadees (Part 4)Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 03:34:02 -0400 on 5/10/02 12:39 AM, Elaine Whitworth at visionfarm"at"earthlink.net wrote: I had chickadees and tufted titmice just beginning to come to my ... In addition to Maynard's description of the eggs, take a careful look at the
nest. The Chickadee's nest is one of the most finely crafted nests I believe
I've ever seen. It completely fills the bottom of the box even though she's only
using the back 1/3 as the actual nest. She built the foundation of about 1.5-2
inches of moss and then added layer upon layer of fine grasses woven with lots
of dog hair that we leave in a special place in the yard. (If there's anything
that needs recycling it's black lab hair!) It's an impressive piece of work!
Regards, larry -- Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 11:12:07 -0400 Larry and All, We have carolina chickadees. They have a nest and 6 eggs. The nest is higher, at least 3+ inches of moss. The cup portion is lined with fine hairs, etc. My question to the group is whether Carolina chickadees have more moss in their nest than black capped chickadees. The eggs sound like those described by Maynard but smaller. Is that accurate too? Patty in WV "L. J. VanZalen" wings"at"mei.net 05/11/02 03:50 AM The Chickadee's nest is one of the most finely crafted nests I believe ... From: hubertrap"at"webtv.net (Joe Huber) Hi Pat, Carolina Wrens are definitely insect eaters. They should take care of feeding young. Charter member NABS, Charter member OBS, Life member OBS Joe Huber hubertrap"at"webtv.net http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL
http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/RoostingBluebirds 27.1171494 N Lo -82.4124222 W Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 10:11:29 -0400 Hi All, What do carolina chickadee chicks eat? We have 6 chicks. Their parents visit the feeders and suet cakes. Do they feed the chicks grain and suet? They aren't insect eaters or are they? Just curious. Thanks in advance, Patty in WV Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 11:34:22 -0700 (PDT) Hi all, Thanks, De Have a good day Bob Sitarski a.k.a The Doctor Jackson County Indiana ( 385244N 086023W ) & Clay County Illinois ( 384008N 0882908W ) From: "Karen Harder" karenh"at"praxisworks.org Hi everyone, I'm thrilled to have a Black-capped Chickadee nest in one of my boxes! But I have some concerns that have raised some questions: --As of May 6 the beginnings of a such a sweet nest were in place. It was about 1" high, was composed of moss and filled the square floor of the box, corner to corner. --On May 10 I checked again and found a beautiful, neatly constructed nest of moss, fine grass, and some sort of down that *filled* the box all the way to the hole (it's a tall NABS-style box), with a good cup. But the top inch or so of the nest was just loose material, some even hanging out of the entrance. It could have been there waiting for ma 'dee to finish building, or it could have been pulled apart. However, we have *no* nestbox predators here that I'm aware of. So perhaps she just kept building and then realized it was too high and pulled it apart herself to get it down to a better height, for... ...on May 13 I checked and found the nest down to about 3" high, with a nice cup. It seemed empty, but because of having read here on the List that chickadees are apt to hide their eggs, I felt inside and discovered an egg under some grass. The weather was horrible -- cold wind and driving rain -- and the only reason I was checking during these conditions was that I wanted to know whether our silicone job was good. It was! Everything inside was perfectly dry. But I didn't want to take more time with the box open, so I didn't feel for more eggs. --This afternoon, May 15, I checked again and this time felt 2 eggs buried under grass and down. (The second egg could have been there when I checked on the 13th -- or not.) What I'm wondering is whether the things I've learned about Bluebirds are the same for 'dees. Do they lay one egg each morning? Can there be gaps of a few days between egg layings? Once all the eggs are laid, can there be several days before mom begins incubating? These questions are based on my concern because I haven't seen a chickadee near the box in about 5 days. Is she just being extremely secretive? Or does it seem more likely that she's abandoned the nest? (I'm still seeing 'dees in the yard -- 3 that I'm sure of; could be 4.) We haven't had a decent day weather-wise since last Saturday, the 11th. So, could she have just put everything on hold for the time being, waiting for the wild weather to simmer down? I'll really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this, for I'm *so hoping for a hale and hearty batch of new little chickadees. Many thanks. Karen Harder -- Cape Porpoise, Maine From: hubertrap"at"webtv.net (Joe Huber) Hello Karen and all, Nest material in the entrance isn't a good sigh but like you said it may be material that the Chickadee left there. If you start seeing that nest material on the ground near the box it may be the work of a House Wren. There is no hurry for the female to start incubating eggs, give her a few more days. Since eggs are hidden the female is tending to nest. Things should work out ok. Joe Huber, Venice Fl. Charter member NABS, Charter member OBS, Life member OBS Joe Huber http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL
http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/RoostingBluebirds 27.1171494 N Lo -82.4124222 W From: "Karen Harder" karenh"at"praxisworks.org ... From: "Stan, Apple Valley/St. Paul, MN [44.44N, -93.10W]"
stan1bb"at"frontiernet.net Hello EveryBIRDie! Yes, indeed, I'm in ChickaDEElight! Count 'em! SEVEN! Peeking into our chickadee nestbox this evening, I found the female with a few gaping bills open. Upon returning with my camera, she had gone for mealworms; and there were SEVEN wide-open beaks! What a beauty! Happy birding to each of you! Stan http://www.northbirding.com/writings/smerrill/chickadee.htm From: chicker"at"snet.net Besides having sparrow problems!! I have added a couple bluebird houses across my property more than 300 Feet..Question is can chickadees nest within 5ft of a bluebird house..The house has a smaller hole but it seemed the bluebird chased her a little..They accept swallows how about chickadees???? And do chickadees prefer sun or mix of.. From: "CJ Hazer" CeeJaaHzr"at"starband.net Hey Chicker! Just thought I'd drop a line to the list about my Chickadee/Bluebird arrangements. My Chickadee pair built in a nestbox not 50 feet from our active Bluebird nest. There was never any confrontations between the two. My Bluebirds fledged Friday (5/17) and my Chickadees are incubating 4 beautiful little eggs. Jack & Jill (my Bluebird couple) starting their new nest 3 days before their nestlings fledged. As of yesterday, there was already a beautiful blue egg in the perfect nest! All things working well here in Missouri! CJ Hazer ----- Original Message ----- ... From: "Cameron" cscott5"at"charter.net i dont know what happened but one of my seven chicadee eggs some how got broke do u think that the blues that are nesting a little ways way did it From: "Cameron" cscott5"at"charter.net the other day i made a post asking if the blue male could have been the
reason why the chicadees egg was broken and if that was why they left everybody told me n i set a trap and caught the male in the chicadees box explain that one From: "Seymour, Beth" Beth.Seymour"at"KMHP.com I think I may have experienced a similar situation in my yard between bluebirds & chickadees. Chickadees didn't make it. -----Original Message----- ... From: "paul kilduff" plkldf"at"hotmail.com Thank you very much for your Message! The crash course in survival of the fittest is funny! I was thinking of a paintball gun but I like your idea too! The idea of the cat's being able to jump seven feet is scary. I think that's about how high the box is. Everything the chickadees go to is fairly high. The mealworm feeder is only about four feet high. Maybe cat caught her on way into/out of mealworm feeder. Food for thought! Maybe have to put that on telescoping pole, too. Many thanks! take care, From: Ann&Tom Long longann"at"pacinfo.com
... From: "Stan, Apple Valley/St. Paul, MN [44.44N, -93.10W]"
stan1bb"at"frontiernet.net Hello EveryBIRDie! Hand-feeding mealworms to chickadees is one thing; peeking into the nestbox and talking to her while incubating or brooding hatchlings is another. Now, for the "biggie" questions. Malinda and I are wondering: Will they re-use the same nest for their second brood? Or should nextbox be cleaned immediately after they fledge? Will they renest again if successful? Should unhatched eggs be removed? Are they faithful to the same nest site year after year as I have heard? Happy birding--bluebirding, chickadee-ing! Thanks! Stan ... Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 18:45:36 -0700 Chickadees only nest once a year.. They usually come back to the same box year after year, at least that's what they do around here. Tom Long "Stan, Apple Valley/St. Paul, MN [44.44N, -93.10W]" wrote: Hello EveryBIRDie! ... Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 20:34:29 -0500 Hi Stan,Malinda and BLUEBIRDLers! Here is what I can tell you based on my experience with nesting Black-Capped Chickadees here in Southern Wisconsin: Will they re-use the same nest for their second brood? One brood per year is typical on my trails............ should nextbox be cleaned immediately after they fledge? Usually there's not much left to remove as the nest has disintigrated by the time the young fledge, but yes, clean out whatever remains of the nesting material (moss and rabbit fur on my trails).......... Will they renest again if successful? Should unhatched eggs be removed? I do not remove them....... I interfere as little as possible, but have had no problem with nest abandonment, but then, I check the nestboxes only once a week. House wrens will remove Chickadee nesting material, eggs and young, however. Chickadee nestlings are pretty small, appearing quite fragile. I believe you would find it difficult to remove an unhatched egg if you did find one..........often the adults will remove the unhatched eggs. Are they faithful to the same nest site year after year as I You would need to band the adults and recapture them to know for certain. My guess: yes......... Ann Wick P.S. I have more active Black-Capped Chickadee nests on my trails this spring than ever before, 11 to be exact, with clutch sizes ranging from 5-9, averaging 8! So far they all seem to be doing well in spite of our very cold nighttime temps. From: "paul kilduff" plkldf"at"hotmail.com Paul Kilduff, Baltimore MD I'm very sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry to say I know how you feel -- a couple of weeks ago I sent a similar Message. I'm afraid I also share your feelings about HOuse WRens. I realize it's all part of nature's plan, but HOWR act like invasives, running amok, taking over the ecosystem. I don't like it one bit, and I don't like them either! I really don't like having our beautiful chickadees destroyed wantonly. A quick update on our backyard chickadee box. We had pretty much concluded that a cat had taken the mama chickadee (we're still not sure if Carolina or Black capped) and they had died of hypothermia. We left HOWR open as a possible cause of death, but there was no sign of HOWR in the area. Now there is. A HOWR has definitely taken over the box, identified by his ability to get into 1-1/8" hole, his call, and the fact that he puts sticks in the box. Still don't know if he killed the babies. On our trail at Oregon Ridge Park, Cockeysville MD, we have two (last I knew) active chickadee boxes. One of them lost two eggs and had sticks put in, so I put a piece of wood on the box which was designed to allow the bird to get in, but not allow the sticks to get in. This was based on a suggestion from someone on this list, but I'm not sure who. Anyway, it is 1-3/4" from the hole, parallel to the front of the box, and it extends down to level with the bottom of the hole, which is 1-1/8" dia. By the time I installed this, an adult 'dee was sitting on the nest, and I waited until I saw that she? could get in and out before I left. I checked it on Thursday, and at that point I saw an adult easily making her? way into the box, easily negotiating the stick-blocker, and heard the babies calling when I lightly scratched the box; last time I looked in there were no sticks in the box. So, so far so good. My wife suggests that the stick-blocker may interfere with fledging, so that is a concern. My feeling is that in the wild, there must be all kinds of mazes that fledgings have to negotiate in order to fledge. So I hope they can manage to get out of the box without too much danger. Here in the backyard, I put a similar stick-blocker on the backyard box, and lo and behold, the little sucker put *very long and flexible* sticks in there! I don't know if he masticated them until they were flexible enough to fit through the hole (okay, I'm getting carried away) or just kept dragging them through until they became broken in many places, or what, but what a little berserker he is! My take is that on the trail, the HOWR was just preparing a dummy nest, and
so didn't bother trying to solve the stick-blocker, whereas in the backyard I'd also really like to see if there might be a set of location circumstances that would be attractive to 'dee but not HOWR. Here in our urban location, I don't think there *are* any rules, but on the rural trail, I wonder if you can get far enough away from the woods that HOWR are no longer interested, while being close enough that chickadees still feel safe. I intend to keep working on it. Someone else suggested, in response to my question early this spring, putting two boxes very close together, one high and one low, on the idea that HOWR is known *not* to depradate a box very close to its own, and that HOWR tended to like low locations while 'dees tended to like high locations. So far no dice. I made two pairs like this - one pair has had zero activity, the other had a 'dee nest start in the upper box, which was later destroyed and taken over by HOWR. The bottom box had recurrent wasps, so maybe if the lower box had been available this theory would have proven true. I could feel better about the HOWR if there were a way to arrange it so they could "live and let live". Again, I'm sorry for your loss. It seems to me chickadee nestlings are particularly hard to lose! Paul in Baltimore ... From: "Gary Springer" springer"at"alltel.net Except for cases where there is an opening in the forest canopy or the forest is "manicured", I've had very little success with nest boxes mounted in mature forest in Georgia. In my opinion one of the biggest reasons birds so readily use nest boxes is that they are more in the open and further from activities of predators than natural cavities in living trees. There is no shortage of natural cavities in most mature forest. Because of the high rate of nest attempts in nest boxes positioned just outside the edge of the forest, I believe it is safe to conclude that most cavity nesting song birds strongly prefer cavities in the open than ones in the forest near leaf covered branches in which they see their most feared predators every day. I believe this is evidence that in the Pre-Columbian era, these birds nested primarily in branchless, barkless bleached white dead standing trees in or beside beaver damns where hawks, owls and eagles were the predator control for the bluebirds and other cavity nesting song birds. Having written this, the chickadee is one of the cavity nesting song birds that will excavate its own cavities in soft rotten material such as in knot holes in living trees. Therefore, the numerous potential nest sites in mature forest for this type of cavity seem to reduce the attraction chickadees have for nest boxes placed under the full canopy of mature forest. In other words, chickadees nesting in the forest may prefer a natural cavity to a nest box. Gary Springer ----- Original Message ----- ... From: "Stan, Apple Valley/St. Paul, MN [44.44N, -93.10W]"
stan1bb"at"frontiernet.net Hello EveryBIRDie! O.k. I concede! This "doubting Thomas" was always skeptical when reading your various Posts about your bluebirds "come flying" whenever you appear--in person, in your car, etc. with your mealworms or "whistle" for them, or whatever means you communicated to them. Initially during the summers, I started via playing the DinnerSong tape of chickadees; then converted to calling them "Here chickadee-dee-dee; here chick-chick-chick-a-dee-dee-dee...," as in the Winter I didn't want to have to carry a tape recorder outside to call them, plus have the mealworms; and they pretty well came, if within hearing distance. This summer has been especially fun, with their nesting in a nestbox which I'd hung (with permission) in a nearby neighbor's pine tree. Whenever I'd go out on the deck, I'd call them; and they'd come for their mealworms. Any remaining I'd place in the "fly-through bluebird/chickadee" feeder for their getting later. After their five little ones fledged on Saturday, the parents (the female more frequently) still come for mealworms; where they have "stashed" their fledglings I'm not sure, but it can't be far away, no longer than it takes for a "round-trip" with usually two mealworms per trip. And when I go out on the deck and call "Here, chickadee...etc." within a matter of minutes, the female makes her debut. So, they must be in a nearby neighbor's tree closeby. But this experience of her "quick arrival" does "clinch" the case for this "doubting Thomas!" There's no way it could be pure coincidence. And, yes, I'm aware of feeding mealworms is for MY ENJOYMENT, as on occasions the male arrives with a "green bug" of some type, ready to add a mealworm before returning to the little ones. Though I still remain a "bluebird wannabe" and enjoy all your Posts--even the "thought-provoking" ones, I'm enjoying chickadees and as of a few weeks ago, a pair of Tree Swallows in our Townhome area. Happy birding to each of you! Stan Merrill From: "Cinda J. Salisbury" cjs"at"cvns.net GlacierMy little Chickadee nest has 4 eggs in it this morning. Now, the male BB is trying to claim the box. I guess this means I lost my Chickadees, huh? Those BB lost their babies to the cold in May. I removed the nest so they could build again, but they left the area. I have 2 other boxes. You'd think that they would take over one of them. I'd move the Chickadees, but I don't think Mom would find them again. I just have no luck with these boxes or the Martin house. Cinda....S/C Pa. From: TomGaryH"at"aol.com Cinda, You may want to put a hole restrictor/reducer/excluder block on the box that has nesting Chickadees. Get someone to put a 1&1/8 inch hole through a 3 by 5 inch piece of wood that is cut from 1 inch stock. The top edge of the 1&1/8 inch hole should be 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch below and centered on the 3 inch side. Have suitably sized holes drilled in the corners of the block for its attachment to the nestbox with self-taping screws. Put the block on, centering the 1&1/8 inch hole on/over the existing nestbox hole, when the adult Chickadee is not on the nest. It shouldn't be necessary to use 4 screws for attachment, though that would look better; almost any two holes can be used to attach the block. Having the four holes in the block gives some options for attachment to a box that has a warped front panel. This block would enable the Chickadees to enter and leave the box while excluding larger birds including Bluebirds. Tom Heintzelman Backyard Nestbox Landlord ------------ Original Bluebird-L Post ------------- ... From: hubertrap"at"webtv.net (Joe Huber) I Cinda, Check out your empty nest boxes closely to be sure there are no wasp nests in them. Bluebirds will not go in them if they contain wasp nests. Your Chickadees may successfully defend their nest from the BB,s Just be sure there is another box fit for them to use. Best of luck, Joe Huber Charter member NABS, Charter member OBS, Life member OBS Joe Huber hubertrap"at"webtv.net http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL
http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/RoostingBluebirds 27.1171494 N Lo -82.4124222 W ... From: "ksbluebird" ksbluebird"at"cox.net We just put up our first bluebird box in our backyard. There was some competition between the bluebirds (two males) and the chickadees. After awhile, were rewarded with two eggs in the box on June 2nd. After two bad days of rain, we noticed that the chickadees were back in the yard and spending a lot of time around the nest. Mr. Bluebird was doing a pretty good job of keeping the chickadee out of the area and even knocked him to the ground a few times! This morning however, the bluebirds seem to have disappeared. Going out to inspect the box revealed our worst fears - the eggs were gone. We found them broken on the ground under the box. And now, the Chickadees have seem to taken over the box and the bluebirds have not been seen. Would the chickadees have removed the eggs from the box? Everything I've read gives no indication that they would do this. I've seen no other predators. What could have happened? Should I remove the nest? We have a new box to put up this weekend, hoping to attract the chickadees to that so the bluebirds will come back. Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Julie, South Central Kansas Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 12:29:42 -0400 Hi All, We had one nest of 6 Carolina chickadees that fledged about 10 days ago. Two days ago we noticed that one "baby" was nearby chirping, chirping, etc. One parent was nearby. The baby kept it's mouth open wanting food most of the time. I never saw the parent feed it. My husband said, "I bet that you could go and pick up the baby". I did--two times. He was sitting on a feeder and he let me pick him up. We even took some photos. He was very tame. Yesterday when I was mowing the lawn, I found this little chick laying dead on the ground near the maple tree where some feeders are located. I was so upset. I could see no evidence of "foul play". It looked healty but dead. Is it common for "dees" to hang around their parents like that demanding food? I know that bluebirds do. We see the fledglings with the parents almost everyday. We're just curious. It just seems odd that it died. Any thoughts as to what might have happened? Patty in WV From: "Stan, Apple Valley/St. Paul, MN [44.44N, -93.10W]" ... Date: Mon, 01 Jul 2002 23:02:58 -0400 ... From: "Keith & Sandy Kridler" kridler"at"1starnet.com From: "Gary Springer" springer"at"alltel.net Gary Springer Carnesville, Georgia Once again, in my experience the standard size bluebird nestbox with the inch and a half round entrance hole is the ideal nestbox to use if the intent is to attract bluebirds and numerous other smaller species of cavity nesting song birds in the Eastern United States. The three most important advantages of using only boxes with the inch and a half round entrance hole and putting up at least 5 of these for every hundred yards instead of one for each hundred yards are: 1) At 100 yards apart chickadees, titmice and nuthatches rarely have a chance to nest in your nest boxes. Bluebirds consistently prevent these smaller birds from using nest boxes until there are several alternate nest cavities for each hundred yards.. 2) Chickadees and tufted titmice strongly prefer the inch and a half entrance hole over smaller holes so you will attract far more of these smaller birds with the standard bluebird box. If you are concerned that house sparrows will enter chickadee nests, after the chickadee begins to incubate, reduce the entrance hole by placing a thin piece of wood with a hole of inch and an eighth over the original hole in the box. In similar fashion, I reduce the entrance holes for titmice and nuthatches to inch and a quarter to keep the bluebirds out and to make the cavity safer from other predators but because house sparrows can enter the inch and a quarter hole and any other cavity the titmice and nuthatches can enter, that's the best home we can offer for these birds. 3) If you don't put up nestboxes with smaller holes, but instead put up many with inch and a half entrance holes, bluebirds will be able to use all of the nestboxes you put up. And, you will soon learn that bluebirds prefer NOT to use the same box over and over again. They prefer to move around. But, if you don't offer them several quality boxes in good locations closer than one hundred yards apart, you will never notice this. 4) You will also notice that bluebirds will often break the one hundred yard "rule". At times Eastern Bluebirds will nest within one hundred FEET.of each other and they will commonly nest within 75 yards of each other. Therefore, this strategy will not only help chickadees and titmice, but will increase the bluebird density as well. A couple of foot notes: I've found that Carolina Wrens will begin using nestboxes more quickly if you use slot boxes. And, if you want to attract larger birds, put up some nestboxes with larger holes, but never smaller than the inch and a half entrance hole. Gary Springer From: "emcooper" emcooper"at"bayou.com I just checked my trail of 17 nestboxes. One of the Chickadee nests was gone except for about 3 pieces of moss. This is the first time I've had them build in the nestboxes and I don't know what happened. Any suggestions? I was wondering if another bird removed it. The other nest I found yesterday is fine and is about 200 yards from the one that disappeared. I found another claim straw and there were about three more in the one I found yesterday. It is 79* here today. Wonderful! Evelyn Cooper From: "william guerra" wmguerra"at"mindspring.com I'm new to the list and to birding, in general, and I need a little advise/suggestions. I put up a house about 10 days ago intended for bluebirds. No action in terms of ANY nesting pairs until a couple of days ago and that was a pair of Carolina chickadees. They've started construction of nest but have laid no eggs. Today I had a couple of bluebirds (my first) check out the house and had a
brief exchange with the chickadees. As of now, appears the chickadees My question: Should I remove the chickadee's nest to discourage their occupancy... and try to woo the bluebirds into setting up housekeeping? (I really would prefer to have bluebirds occupy.) Bill G From: Dolllady1125"at"aol.com I would get another bird house to woo blue birds. I let chickadees and swallows use one or two boxes. From: "Larry A Broadbent" rockets"at"mnsi.net Hi William, Personally I'd be delighted to have Chickadees take one of my Bluebird nestboxes. Regards, ... Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 13:16:41 -0800 Don't remove the nest!!!! It's illegal for you to do so. If you do nothing the bluebirds could easily evict them . I would put up another nestbox nearby (20-25 ft away) for the bluebirds and you could end up with both. Chickadees are remarkable little birds.!! Tom Long william guerra wrote: I'm new to the list and to birding, in general, and I need a little ... From: klubea"at"comcast.net I would get a chickadee house with a smaller hole which they like and use.
Mount it further away. I always have a chickadee house up just for them. Blues
have theirs. Chickadees do prefer a smaller hole. But i live in the East maybe
they are different! From: "Fawzi P. Emad femad <at> fpemad <dot> com You're lucky William to get Chickadees! They are wonderful, and I welcome
them in any of my boxes. These are native birds, we should not touch their If you can, get another box and mount it near this one for the Bluebirds (20 to 25 ft away.) The Bluebirds will easily take over the box from the Chickadees, and that will be a loss. If you pair the box with another one, hopefully the Bluebirds will take the new box and leave the Chickadees alone. ALL my boxes are paired for exactly this reason. I get Chickadees and Tree Swallows in the boxes, and these get along well with the Bluebirds. Fawzi Fawzi Emad in Laytonsville, Maryland ----- Original Message ----- ... From: "Larry A Broadbent" rockets"at"mnsi.net Chickadees will readily use a 1 1/2" hole ( in this case the Bluebird nestbox) that they have claimed. They will even use a larger hole than this. Since the Chickadees have already started building their nest in the mentioned Bluebird nestbox, you have to leave it alone. It is against the law to remove a nesting bird's nest. You should install another Bluebird nestbox say 20 to 25 feet from the Chickadee nestbox. Hopefully this way your Bluebirds will take it and you will end up with both nesting Chickadees and Bluebirds. Lucky you :-) By specifically putting up nestboxes with smaller entrance holes ( smaller than 1 1/2") you eliminate the Eastern Bluebirds from a potential nestbox. Regards, E-mail rockets"at"mnsi.net ----- Original Message ----- ... From: "emcooper" emcooper"at"bayou.com I have my first Carolina Chickadee nest on my trial and am thrilled! Do you
monitor them the same as Bluebirds? ----- Original Message ----- ... From: "Fawzi P. Emad femad <at> fpemad <dot> com For each of my boxes I have a log sheet, so I do the same with all occupants. I monitor the boxes and report what I find and what I do at each box. I do that about once a week. I got Chickadees twice in the past, both times in the park. Here at home (also in the park) I get lots of Tree Swallows. They are beautiful too. Watch out for those Chickadees, they are feisty little things. I love them very much! Fawzi Fawzi Emad in Laytonsville, Maryland ----- Original Message ----- ... From: "Phil Berry" phil4643"at"msn.com evelyn, From: "emcooper" emcooper"at"bayou.com ... From: "emcooper" emcooper"at"bayou.com I had two Chickadee nests about 150 yards apart and the second time I went to look at them, one of them disappeared. The other one is still there. These nestboxes are on the backside of a wooded area, but open and no traffic. Thanks, I will be very careful. I am so thrilled to have it and hope it goes well. I had a pair with a juvenile to come bathe last summer in the puddles in the yard from the hose along with several other species of birds. I am sure they nested in a natural cavity. There are plenty here on our property. Oh, finally, the beginnings of a Bluebird nest yesterday and it rained today
and stopped progress. I am impatient!!!! ----- Original Message ----- ... From: KCBSP"at"aol.com Kathy Clark, New Cumberland, PA I just adore chickadees. We get them at our state park on our trail. We only monitor once a week. You find these tiny eggs like my pinky fingernail.. just that size and they are the smallest tiniest thing I ever saw when they hatch out. All look like mom and dad and a nest of 8 or more is just delightful!! Unfortunately house wrens usually get most of our chickadee eggs but some make it!! They cover their eggs with rabbit fur alot and it hides the eggs. Mom C usually goes to a nearby branch to scold while we monitor!! I have a neat picture to share if anyone wants to see of a bluebird nest with 2 eggs abandoned and a take over by a chickadee no less who hatched all out!! It's precious. Kathy, New Cumberland PA For each of my boxes I have a log sheet, so I do the same with all ... From: "Lawrence Herbert" lherbert"at"4state.com Someone asked about the Carolina Chickadee. So glad that you asked! Many of us have the same questions and are too shy to ask! Hope I'm not too late. It sounds like many others here were suggesting good opinions and steering you in the right direction. Carolina Chickadees are cavity-nesting songbirds that will, on occasion, nest in "bluebird boxes." That's great! At first opportunity the short answer is, as others have suggested, to place another nest site down the lane/road/field for the bluebirds, and lucky you for having the opportunity to study the nesting cycle of chickadees first hand! Both hope-to-be parents help to build a gorgeous nest with a base of moss and a cup of hair, feathers and small plants. Six creamy white eggs speckled with reddish or purplish blotches are incubated by the female alone. She usually covers the eggs until the last or next to last egg is laid at which time she begins incubating for 12 to 14 days. We often find chickadee eggs covered. The reason is usually because she hasn't begun incubating yet. By the way she is very faithful to the eggs during cool weather and the male will feed her during these times. Nestlings are tended by both parents for 16 to 17 days when they fledge or leave the nest. In my limited experience with chickadees I would discourage the use of a smaller than 1.5 inch entrance hole. This gives the other cavity nesters, nuthatches, titmice, etc., the opportunity for a nest site. Also, chickadees will enlarge the entrance site when given the chance, such as in decaying wood, so they may prefer a larger entrance site. Nest and nesting cycle information was gleaned from "Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of N. A. Birds" by Colin Harrison, 1984. Good birding, Larry H. Joplin MO. From: "paul kilduff" plkldf"at"hotmail.com On our nestbox trail at Oregon Ridge Park, Cockeysville MD, last year we had zero chickadees (not sure if BCCH or CACH) fledge, though we had quite a few nests spoiled by HOuse WRen, fledging many. Not that it matters, but this human wouldnt mind HOWR so much if they werent so destructive! In any case, in past years a couple of these locations (near woods, of course) seem actually to have produced CH fledglings, but many more HOWR. [This is my second season as coordinator of the trail. As always, many thanks to bluebird-Ls wonderful people for the tremendous help, and last season I used Jims archive extensively as always, I say thank you! We had a successful season (trapped record zero TRES thanks to swallow ladders under door, fledged 50% more EABL than in any previous year) thanks in large part to bluebird-L and its wonderful subscribers.] Anyway, I know there are shades of opinion on the HOWR issue, but heres my question: Is it better to put up boxes near woods which chickadees and HOWR can compete for, knowing that a few chickadees may fledge, or do thechickadees do better using non-human-produced cavities? Are the HOWR depradating the NHP cavities at the same rate theyre depradating the 1-1/8 holed boxes were providing? Should I follow my inclination to eliminate all boxes which have shown repeated evidence that CH nests are destroyed and subsequently HOWR fledge from those boxes? What are your thoughts? Paul in Baltimore Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 10:15:28 -0800 (PST) --- paul kilduff plkldf"at"hotmail.com wrote: ... The first two years on my trail were devastating, with the second year being a total loss for the Carolina Chickadees. This past year the House Wrens only occupied one box for two nestings. The Chickadees rebounded and fledged good numbers from a number of boxes. If I had removed boxes after that second year I wouldn't have had the Chickadees I had last year. I also hold on to the hope of attracting Eastern Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch or Carolina Wrens using boxes at the park.
From: hubertrap"at"webtv.net (Joe Huber) Hi Paul,and all, House Wrens will become more problem each year if you allow
them to use nest boxes. They tend to carry stick's into every box in the area
and only use one at a time. About the only defence is to remove stick's daily,or
remove some boxes. They are protected species, just like the Chickadees so
selecting location's they don't use is about all you can legally do. House Wrens
have been helped for year's with nest boxes that have 1" entrance holes, so they
are more numerous than other small cavity nester's. Most suggest locating boxes
in open areas away from any cover such as bushes or thicket's. They can be very
nasty in some locations,and not encouraged by Bluebirder's. Adding more boxes
will not solve this Charter member NABS, Charter member OBS, Life member OBS Joe Huber hubertrap"at"webtv.net http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL
http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/RoostingBluebirds 27.1171494 N Lo -82.4124222 W From: "paul kilduff" plkldf"at"hotmail.com ... From: "Gary Springer" springer"at"alltel.net Hi Paul, I believe the following summary includes the relevant information you provided: 1)Chickadee fledges dropped to zero last year . 2)House wrens compete for nest boxes and fledge 3) bluebirds fledge numbers up 50 percent 4) your trail consists of boxes of two entrance hole sizes; inch and a half(Large Hole Box, "LHB") and inch and an eighth(Small Hole Box, "SHB") In addition to this information I believe it is important to consider: The objectives of the nest box trail. The spacing of the nest boxes Whether or not the LHB and SHB are positioned according to habitat or mixed evenly throughout the trail. Are House wrens nesting in the LHB's? Further in the open areas? Are house wren fledge numbers increasing? What is the occupancy rate of the nest boxes in early spring for both the LHB's and SHB's? While I think knowing the answers to these questions is important to answering your questions, it appears there is huge competition for your nest boxes and the best cure would be to increase the nest box density but this assumes the objective is to help as many different native species of birds as possible. You asked : " Is it better to put up boxes near woods which chickadees and HOWR can compete for, knowing that a few chickadees may fledge, or do the chickadees do better using non-human-produced cavities." In my opinion, assuming that this is the objective, the fledge rate of any species will dramatically increase if it nests in boxes which are properly constructed, properly mounted and properly monitored because predation is greater in natural cavities. Even though it would be very useful to know more about the habitat through which your nest box trail runs and what the populations of chickadees are like and the other questions above, unless there is a severe house sparrow problem, I would move the boxes near the forest further towards the open areas hoping to reduce house wren competition while the chickadees would still attempt to nest in them. And, I would increase the smaller entrance holes to inch and a half so either bluebirds or chickadees might use them. But, this strategy will not help the chickadees unless boxes are spaced far closer than every one hundred yards, especially since bluebird populations seem to be increasing rapidly. I have no experience with tree swallows but, if they also compete with chickadees for nest boxes spacing would have to be closer than 70 feet apart. With so many species competing for nest boxes, if there isn't one or more nest box for every species for each 70 or 80 yard distance competition will be strong and evictions by larger or more aggressive birds will occur. You indicated that 4 species are using your nest boxes; House Wren, Chickadee, Bluebird, and Tree Swallow. If your goal is to assist the latter three species you will need at least 4 nest boxes for each 70 or 80 yards to stop the competition problem which you are trying to solve. As your experience suggests, while positioning some nest boxes closer to forest and reducing the entrance holes of others seems like a good strategy, it does not overcome the problem of nest site shortage for native cavity nesting birds which I believe should be the primary objective of putting up nest boxes. Gary Springer ----- Original Message ----- ... From: "emcooper" emcooper"at"bayou.com I checked my Carolina Chickadee nest yesterday that had 6 eggs in it . There were two brand new tiny babies. Today, when I checked it, the babies were fine, but three eggs were gone. The mama flew out as I tapped on the nestbox. We have a predator guard on the pole and everything seemed to be perfectly fine, except three eggs gone and hatching just started. What could have happened? I've not had this experience with Bluebirds. Evelyn Cooper Delhi, La. Louisiana Bayou Bluebird Society From: "emcooper" emcooper"at"bayou.com They were all under the moss until she started incubating. I checked them one day, and she had uncovered all of them and it stayed that way. Every time, 6 tiny little eggs. The babies looked even stronger today. I wonder if she took the eggs out for some reason? I did not probe around because of the babies. Are they hatched under the moss? Those little Carolina Chickadees are feisty little birds!!! ... Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 17:21:55 -0700 They could be buried in the moss or maybe mama removed them for some reason. I would leave them alone for a few days and check later. Good luck!!!!! Tom Long emcooper wrote: I checked my Carolina Chickadee nest yesterday that had 6 eggs in it . ... Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 22:30:11 -0700 (PDT) What could have happened? I've not had this ... In my expirience with Carolina Chickadees the success rate seems to be lower
than Eastern Bluebirds. Last year they fledged good numbers but lost a few eggs,
some unhatched and some removed. Of those that hatched a few nestlings also were
found dead on the nest or removed. Typical clutch size on my trail is six to
eight eggs with four or five making it to fledge. From: hubertrap"at"webtv.net (Joe Huber) Hi Evelyn, In my experience Bluebirds leave infertile eggs in the nest. I don't recall any being removed by bluebirds. This sounds like another bird took them out as they didn't remove all of them. A snake generally remains in the box until all is consumed. Possible culprits are the house wren or hOSP. Usually the guilty party will be seen at the box following this act. There are some mysteries we can never solve but I've touched on the most likely causes. Hope you are able to figure this one out. Joe Huber, Venice, fl. Charter member NABS, Charter member OBS, Life member OBS Joe Huber http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL
http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/RoostingBluebirds 27.1171494 N Lo -82.4124222 W From: "emcooper" emcooper"at"bayou.com ... From: "Cheryl Walker" mkbsmom"at"earthlink.net I hope I'm not posting too soon- I have some questions. We put a bluebird box up last year. Nobody decided to occupy it- so I didn't think anything of it. A few weeks ago, I saw a nest. Thought it was a bluebird nest- until I checked it last week, and to my surprise, out flies a very aggrivated black- capped chickadee. My husband is making a couple more bluebird boxes- since a bluebird tried to get into the box last week- and the chickadee chased it away. How far away from the 1st box do we put it? We back up to woods- and I have seen foxes, raccoons, and at least 1 opossum. The house is mounted on a wooden post- with no baffle- do I need to worry about predators getting in? I've never seen them over on that side of the yard- usually they go and check under the bird feeder for food, then run back into the woods. If so, is there any way to put a baffle on while we have an active nest? And- we have 2 cats. So far they haven't bothered the box- but once the babies start fledging- the cats are in for a rude surprise, they are not going to be allowed outside. When do they fledge, how long, and is there a point like bluebirds where I'm not supposed to open up the box? The box is next to my vegetable garden. I don't use pesticides normally there- my girls love to go out there in the summer, picking tomatoes off the vine and eating as many as they can. There shouldn't be any problems with that right? Finally- I have a 3rd grader and a kindergartener. I have promised the girls
that I would take pictures of the nest so they can take them into school and
show their teachers and classmates. This ( the flash) isn't going to bother mama
or her babies is it? From: "Ruter" FourRuters"at"cinci.rr.com I feel awful - I was checking a box this evening that a Chickadee had been building a nest in. When I put my hand in I felt her fur (feathers) and she flew out. She left one warm egg in the nest and she had not returned. When I checked the box it was getting dark. From your experience is it likely she'll return? Seriously, I feel awful. Tabitha From: "Gary Springer" springer"at"alltel.net Hi Tabitha, I've also touched chickadees as I was fumbling around in a nest box trying to figure how many eggs there are. That shouldn't cause any problem. Hopefully, by the time you read this you will already have seen this chickadee. But, checking the box frequently to determine whether or not it has returned, especially in the evening, may indeed stress the bird until it does not return. At this point I wouldn't even go near the box for a couple days. If I didn't see the bird coming and going by the third day, I'd put a small piece of grass across the entrance hole to see if the box is being entered. If the piece or grass is undisturbed for more than a day, I'd assume the nest has been abandoned. But, I would not disturb the nest until at least 10 days of inactivity just to be on the safe side. These birds sometimes do things we least expect. Most importantly, as a general rule for all species, to prevent the concerns you now have, I do not monitor nest boxes in the evening. Gary Springer ... From: "Cheryl Walker" mkbsmom"at"earthlink.net I went to our bluebird/chickadee box yesterday and heard- BABIES! I can't see them though, do the parents bury them under the nesting material when they are little? Or maybe I'm just too short and I'm gonna need a ladder to see into the nest :-) They must have just been born a day or so ago, b/c today's the first day I've seen a lot of activity at the box. Cheryl From: "Ruter" FourRuters"at"cinci.rr.com All, Recall I was monitoring at dusk (big no no) and a Chickadee had just layed an egg and flew off. She has not been back since Thursday. Today either the same pair or another pair has been checking out both nest boxes. I watched one of them go into the old box with the nest and pull out the egg. Do you think it's the same pair or a different pair? I don't typically see an abundance of Chickadee's here and I believe they have a territory of about 1/4 of an acre. What do you think? Is this typical behavior? Same pair/different pair? Thanks all. From: "Bruce Burdett" blueburd"at"tds.net Cheryl, et al, P.S. I'm talking about Black-capped Chickadees, - the only ones I ever see. ... From: "david calhoun" dlcdmd"at"bellsouth.net My paired boxes are 20 ft apart. Chickadees have nested in one. Question-Will the chickadees keep or inhibit bluebirds from taking the other box? Thanks.David Calhoun.Louisville,Ky. Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:41:08 -0400 Haleya Priest Amherst MA The online Bluebird Reference Guide:
http://birds.cornell.edu/bluebirds/ From: "Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" reklaw"at"attbi.com Haleya, the entrance hole size for chickadees is 1 1/8 in. We always have
chickadees nesting in one of our boxes. The downy woodpeckers enlarged our Anne Cape Cod From: Finneran Ann Ann.Finneran"at"arbitron.com Hi everyone! My question is should I restrict the hole on the BB house that the chickadees
are using? What size? I know chickadees abandon their nests pretty easily, so if
I should put a restrictor on, should I wait till eggs are laid? Will a
restrictor deter a House Wren at all? Or should I just leave it be? Many thanks! Happy birding! From: hubertrap"at"webtv.net (Joe Huber) Hi Mary and all, Yes you can put the restrictor holes on the box with the Chickadee nest as soon as eggs are laid. There is no hole size to restrict the House Wren, unless you go below3/4" Several years ago I built some House Wren boxes with the standard 1" entrance hole. That fall when I inspected one box it had a moss Chickadee nest in it. So apparently some Chickadees can enter a 1" entrance hole. With a 1-1/8" restrictor the Chickadees should be safe from Bluebirds and even House sparrows. Joe Huber from Ohio,now in Venice Fl. Charter member NABS, Charter member OBS, Life member OBS Joe Huber http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL
http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/RoostingBluebirds 27.1171494 N Lo -82.4124222 W ... From: "Karen & Bob Allen" allengang7"at"attbi.com Karen Allen This may sound like a dumb question, but in one of my two bluebird houses a male bluebird had been working on a nest for a few days. Every day I checked on it, a little bit more had been added and it was coming along great. I then noticed black-capped chicadees going in and out of the box, but they were in and out so quickly I didn't pay much attention. I checked the box again today, and most of the bluebird's nest is gone! All that is left is the scraps from the very bottom. Do chicadees remove nests, or is something else strange happening to it? It couldn't possibly blow out, and it seems to be taken apart pretty neatly.....like a piece of grass at a time. If the chicadees are doing this, is it because they want that box? I do have another box about 50 feet or so away which the chicadees nested in last summer and it's empty and available----why wouldn't they just move in there??!! I'm concerned that the bluebirds will give up. I have had tree swallows checking out my 2nd box, but no one yet has claimed the box as their own. Any thoughts would help!! Thanks...... Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 19:04:05 -0400 Well still no sign of any bluebirds yet but a chicadee started building a nest in the box this afternoon. She's very shy and hides whenever I'm outside. Always seems to land on the far side of every branch. I talked with a woman from the historical society today about the lack of bluebirds this year. She said that in the two major trails just North of here there is only one bluebird. Everyone is wondering where they are. Sherry from 35 mi South of Rochester, NY Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 10:12:53 -0500 Ruth Brinckman Sherry, Joy, Judy, don't give up. Things are slow this spring. I Finally have 3 eggs from my new EABL pair in one of my Bluebird boxes. Torrential rains last night and temps in 40's. Forecast is for 70's starting tomorrow. I suppose this cold and rainy weather we have been experiencing in the east has caused a delay. However, I believe the birds know more than we do (with regards to the weather). MY Question is: One of my other boxes has a complete Chickadee nest in it
from Tuesday. I have not seen a Chickadee go in or out all (cold) week, but have
seen them in my garden. Do you think that they too are holding off for the
warmer temperatures? Or might they have abandoned the nest? Also the nest is so
large, full of moss, hairs & fur. Must be 4 inches high. Why would a tiny
Chickadee build such a huge nest? Keith??? From: "Gary Springer" springer"at"alltel.net Gary Springer Carnesville, GA April 27, 2003 A possible reason Chickadee nests are very large and completely surround the eggs and chicks is that these birds nest very early in spring and the young are very tiny and would need more protection from cold than do larger birds. Carolina wren chicks are also very small and many hatch in early spring. Their nests are similar in size and the protection they offer small chicks to those of the chickadee. In response to whether chickadees will delay egg laying after completion of nest construction, in my opinion, this delay is more frequent with chickadees than with bluebirds. Gary Springer PS This response is based in part upon my experience with black-capped and
carolina chickadees. ----- Original Message ----- ... Chickadees (Part 5) |
BEST OF BLUEBIRD_L CLASSIFIEDS HOME | Audubon Society of Omaha | The Bluebird Box | Bluebird FAQs | Search | Contact meAll material was originally posted on the Bluebird_L or Bluebird mailing list, and has been reposted here with slight modifications to make the posts more readable in an HTML format. In cases in which quoted material has been deleted to save space, this is indicated by an ellipsis (...)For more information about Bluebird_L, check out http://www.cit.corn.edu/cit-pubs/email/using-lists/index.htm. If you wish to contact the author of a post, you will need to edit the e-mail address, replacing "at" with the "at" symbol (above the number 2 on your keyboard). (This change was made to discourage spammers.)If you are the author of a posting and would like to see a particular post (or posts) removed from these web pages, please contact me with the web page address, title of post, and date and time of the post(s), and I will remove whatever material you like. If you have a different opinion from one posted here, you need not contact me, as often I will have a different opinion too. The intent is to try and provide both sides to the issues facing bluebirders, and to do so in an impartial and objective manner.If you have problems, encounter broken links (unless they are within an e-mail thread, as I do not maintain those links), or have suggestions on how the site can be improved to make it more useful, please contact the Best of Bluebird-L Classifieds webmaster.Website design by
Chimalis
|
