Not What I Was Expecting

I am not certain if I even blogged on here about the Chickadee house having a second hatch. Maybe I keyed out the mystery of them possibly returning so soon after the first hatch had fledged?  Hard to remember right now, so much going on, and the nasty heat of this summer has seemingly fried my brain. It was all rather mysterious this second time around, and for the longest while, we weren't entirely certain what was going on. Its later in the season, it is hot and humid, the birds are far quieter now. But we were noticing one, possibly two Chickadees returning to the nest box. We never saw two together but especially over the Canada Day weekend there was a lot more frequency with in and out darts from the nest hole. So many times we would sneak up to the house and listen for peeps but never heard nothing; that is until this Sunday when I finally heard a teeny tiny Chickadee noise inside. Soon after I saw one little face peering out at me from within. I couldn't wait for Angie to get home and witness this once again for herself. And of course, she did.

Tuesday I took notice to the sounds of multiple Chickadees in the yard. Two for certain, maybe three.

Wednesday, all was quiet. I didn't even see an adult throughout my time at home.

Today, Thursday, having my morning coffee out back and listening to what was around me, and watching the little house... still nothing. I knew it was over, whoever was inside had "flown the coop" for sure.

I decided it was safe now to finally open the house up and see inside. I recalled the first time we had the hatch a few years back, and how I took apart the house, there was a perfect little nest inside. It was so soft and I couldn't get over how clean it was. Interesting that the little guys kept it clean. I never would have thought that. There were no feathers, no shells, just all the nest material nicely packed down. I expected to find the same today.

It turns out I was partially correct. The nest was as neat as it could be but sadly I did find one egg not hatched, and even more disappointing was the remains of one baby Chickadee. But let's try and not get too upset with this. First off, think about their first hatch... they had 5 healthy little Chickadees fledge. Second, the body within definitely was not that of the one we were hearing a few days ago. This one probably died very soon after the hatch, there really wasn't anything to him judging by his size. And with the scorching temperatures this summer, I am surprised anyone survived. The nest box gets lots of shade through the afternoon due to leaf cover from the Lilac tree, but lately, you just couldn't escape that heat when outdoors. And the nest box has only one hole in it, there is no air circulation. My mom and I were discussing it last week about how hot it must be inside.

I carefully pulled the nest out.  I placed the dime next to the egg to give you an idea on how small the egg is and the body as well.

That's one tiny egg, but when I think about the size of a Chickadee, its still pretty big.  I wonder how mom pushed 5 of those out the first time around.

I buried the nest with the little body in it out near the back.  I stopped for a moment to think about how many others have made their way here before him.  At least 7 creatures that lived with us over the years...  Kermy, Fatso, Pickle, Maude, NO, Bitch and Alice. rescue Toads, Newts and Tarantulas.  A surge of memories hit me all at once.  A few wildlife creatures came to mind as well of those who also share the ground under the apple trees.  Nice that we have such a large backyard with all that unused space when I think about it.

The house is rather dilapidated now.  We are going to seek out the same style come the fall and have it ready for their hopeful return next Spring.

Here is my blog from 2009 regarding the first fledge with the Chickadees.

And if you missed this from their first fledge of 2012, here you go.

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There's Room For Everyone

Since my last blog, much has happened out back with the little outhouse nest box.

The Chickadees have been working away on it, hauling wood chips out, bringing odds and sods of other nest material in. The latest being pieces of old Pussy Willow blooms. The green fluffy bits surely must be pillowy soft for a little bird.

And just like that, along comes a male House Sparrow and his mate, deciding they want the outhouse nest box. I somehow believe this to be the pair, or at the very least, the male House Sparrow from the previous year. He was rather persistent on obtaining this house from the Chickadees.

male House Sparrow waiting to lay a smackdown on one of the returning Chickadees

The first day of this all had me stuck at home for a number of reasons... until I had to go to work that is. The best I could do was continuously step outside and chase these little pesty birds away from the home of the Chickadees. The biggest problem of all though was that the entrance hole was large enough for the House Sparrows to get into. A much worse outcome was possible with the Sparrows having access to the interior of the nest box. Too early for babies, but if there were eggs inside, they would destroy those for starts and possibly kill the smaller Chickadee pair. And then build their own nest on top of whatever remained inside. These are the horrifics I have read about from other people with similar situations.

I asked a web forum for advice and got a few suggestions. I called my local feed store, Wild Birds Unlimited in Etobicoke, and they had exactly what I needed. Seems the entrance hole to the nestbox was one and a half inches; but I needed to reduce the size to one and one eighths which would stop the Sparrows from getting inside. It was an easy job of just screwing in what looked like a large washer over the hole to reduce the size of the "cavity entrance".

Great success as the Sparrows could not enter the house anymore. But the problem was not entirely solved at this point. The Sparrows could not get in but that didn't mean they weren't going to give up trying or just hang around the house and bully the heck out of the Chickadees. And that is what they did. Which still left me quite often stepping outside to shoo the Sparrows away.

I noticed a change in the Chickadees as well. They became much faster now with getting in and out of the house. A blink of an eye and you would miss them. And much of the time they were hiding in the lilac tree that overshadows this old birdhouse as the bullying Sparrows sat and waited for their return.

one of the Chickadees making a quick exit, I swear he was sitting at the entrance when I took the shot

The next couple days were trying. I was thankful the end of the week was coming and I had a 4 day weekend to look forward to. One of my main plans was to be home more and monitor this situation and if I had to spend much of my day outside being a bird bodyguard, so be it.

The Sparrow attacks became less frequent each day but even one attack was still one too many for me. Or having one sit at the entrance way blocking the Chickadees from access or exit to the house. A part of me wished I had a pellet gun to end this nonsense.

And then Sunday, we noticed the Sparrows took an interest in a new house I put up outside the backdoor. A Woodpecker nestbox.

The world surrounding the Chickadee house became peaceful as the Sparrow pair moved on to this house and have been working at a steady pace of bringing nest material to it. I have to mention also a lot of work in the process of creating a new family as well... if you get my drift.

a familiar sighting now as the Chickadees are less stressed and able to rest at their home

and the same goes for the Sparrows too as mother Sparrow seemingly mocks the Chickadee down the yard

I know House Sparrows are not a native species. And am well aware, even more so now, of how much of a pest bird they can be. But after all this, I am happy to let them do their thing right outside my back door. The fact we have two active nests in the backyard this Spring is pretty exciting. It's like having my own nature channel.

House Sparrows mating. What can I say? "Tis better to see love making than war making" about sums it up

And the fact I can sit in the comforts of my kitchen and watch through the window without a pair of binoculars is alright. Perhaps next Spring I will have a different opinion of those Sparrows? Especially if a Downy Woodpecker comes along and would like the "Downy House".

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