“My” chickadee nestlings pecked their way out of their eggs on either June 3 or 4 so mom and dad chickadee are starting to get busy with the nestlings as reach their 4th or 5th birthday.
My next nest check was done on June 8th, when I waited patiently for both parents to clear the box. I found the nestlings very, very deep in the nest, which made it really difficult to see them even with my handy dandy mirror.
I'm always in a rush when taking nest pictures and it was even tougher this time as I tried to get an image where I could count the nestlings. I never did get one a really good picture, but here's my best shot and my attempt to count the babies.
I think I see 6 birds. If that's the case, there's an unhatched egg in there somewhere. Eyes are still closed, there's no feathers yet, but those beaks are getting ready for the eating process.
That's the best I could do this time around; hopefully my next check will be much clearer as the nestlings get a little bigger.
I have some other good news: I have another active chickadee nest in my backyard! Unfortunately it is in a box that I cannot open to monitor. After this season, I’ll have to change to a nestbox that opens on top for easy monitoring. But stay tuned for my final 2 nest checks in my front yard box.
If you are observing a nest and would like to report what you see, join Cornell Lab of Ornithology's NestWatch citizen science project. Talk to us in store if you have questions about NestWatch.
Birdhouses - It was also tough counting in nestwatch #4! Check out that post w/pictures.
Posted by: The Zen Birdfeeder | June 19, 2012 at 11:32 AM
I agree with your birdcount. I look forward to seeing new pictures as the babies grow. Thanks for passing along the info about Cornell's program.
Posted by: birdhouses | June 17, 2012 at 05:36 PM