Moving in...

The chickadees have decided to nest in one of my bluebird boxes again this year and I couldn't be happier! Last year they nested in early April (seen here April 5) and since I hadn't seen any signs of a nest in the box earlier this week, I assumed that they decided to build a nest somewhere in the woods. Much to my surprise, I saw them scurrying back and forth to the nest box yesterday. When I checked it last night, there was about an inch of moss in the nest; today at about 2 pm, there was close to 3 inches of moss! They've been a busy pair today. Impossible to tell the genders apart, so not sure if this is the Mr or the Mrs since they both work on the nest. My guess is that the Mrs will start laying this week.

Black capped chickadees will lay 5-8 eggs. While the male helps bring material to the nest site, it is the female who constructs the nest (knowing that if you want a job done right, ask a woman to do it!). The female incubates the eggs for 11-13 days, taking short breaks to feed. The male may bring her food while she is on the nest. Once the eggs have hatched, the young will fledge in 14-18 days. So what does this all mean? Well, if all goes well, we should have a whole batch of chickadees at the feeders in a little over a month. And there isn't much cuter than a chickadee fledgling flapping its little wings and begging to be fed!

Cool and windy today, but at least the sun finally came out. Lots of gold and purple finches again today. While I was pottering in the yard, there were about 20 goldfinches flitting about. I took some rather quick shots at the feeder Having an altercation and just generally looking very yellow. We have a window feeder in our breakfast room and there were 5 goldfinches on it this morning while hubs and I ate breakfast. What a nice way to start the day!

Thanks for the lovely comments on yesterday's singing sparrow. I apologize for being a slacker commenting lately - seems that I am always short on time.

Happy Saturday!

xxoo
Debbi