The Zen Birdfeeder

Chickadee NestWatch 2014 - Final Report #4

Just a quick final report on my last Black-capped Chickadee nestbox.  I watched the box on and off on the morning of their expected fledge date of June 24th, their 18th day in the nest. I didn't see any signs of nestlings thinking about leaving, like peeking out the nest hole, or parents coaxing them. I had to leave for work around 1:00pm, still hosting a box full of chickadees.

I didn't get home until after dark, so I had to wait until morning to check if they had fledged. When I peeked through the top, I saw the nest was still full of little chickadees.  But within a few hours, it started to look like today was the day!

 

Mom and dad weren't entering the box as often, and then the first little chickadee stepped up to look out at the big world outside the box. He quickly turned and went back in to the safety of his nest.

I kept an eye and ear on the nest, listening and watching for the sound of adults beckoning the chickadees to fledge.  When I heard the adult call, it was followed by a chorus of scratchy little calls emanating from inside the box.  Within a couple hours, the fledging had begun.

I got to see two leave the box. Others were easy to find in nearby trees, calling that scratchy, high-pitched little "che-bee" call.  I also knew it was one of the six when I saw a chickadee taking short little flights ending with clumsy landings.

 

One flew across our small yard to the front of the greenhouse and held on for dear life to a rubber gasket. He eventually had the sense to take the short flight to the roof, but the slight pitch there made his initial landing tough. Everything has to be learned for these little guys!

 

The young ones are just too cute for words! The feathers on the top of their heads stand up on end. They have a stubby little tail. And in varying degrees, they all have clown lips, where the corners of their beaks are still yellow and soft.

But in no time, their fluffiness will be gone. They'll grow out their tail feathers and lose those clown lips too.  In just a matter of weeks, they'll be unidentifiable amongst the flock of identical-looking chickadees raiding our birdfeeders.

 

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Chickadee NestWatch Report #5 (2012)

Chickadee NestWatch Report #3 (2012)

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Chickadee NestWatch 2013 - Report #1

FAQ: Are there Fewer Hummingbirds this Year?

Q. I'm not seeing many hummingbirds? Are there fewer hummingbirds around this year? 

A. We will always see fluctuations in the number of hummingbirds coming to feeders in some portion of North America every year. But based on past experiences and the lack of any reports of "catastrophic" events that would have effected hummingbird populations, we believe the lack of activity you might be experiencing at your feeders is most often tied to weather and it's impact on the abundance and quality of the plants that provide natural nectar sources.

In areas experiencing prolonged, multiple year drought, we have seen much reduced activity at feeders as hummingbirds continue their migration to avoid areas that are almost completely devoid of nectar plants. They will not take a chance on nesting in areas with such extreme conditions. In contrast, once established on their breeding ground during a normal weather year, a short term summer drought seems to drive hummingbirds to feeders as their sources of plant nectar begin to dry up.

Due to favorable weather conditions this year, the Eastern portion of the US has been experiencing one of its best growing seasons in years. The widespread abundance of nectar plants is providing a tremendous natural food supply for hummingbirds which reduces their activity at our feeders. It also allows them the advantage of being able to spread out their breeding territories into areas that may not have been able to support them in less favorable years. So there may be fewer hummingbirds at any given location than in previous years, but the overall population is stable...just distributed over a wider area.

During the height of the nesting season, female hummingbirds are hard a work at the nest - incubating, brooding, feeding 1-2 nestlings. Throughout that process, we typically see a little less of the adult females. But that changes once the young fledge, when females and young make frequent visits to quality nectar sources. Make sure your feeders are clean and the nectar is fresh so that your feeders are amongst the nectar sources they choose to visit!

The majority of this material was provided by WBU Chief Naturalist, John Schaust.

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Five Summer Warblers

I don't usually see much warbler activity in my yard during the summer. I know a few warbler species nest in my area, I just don't see much of them until fall migration.  So when I saw five different warbler species in my yard on a very warm (mid-80s) day last week, I was both thrilled and surprised.

Here are the three I was able to capture an image of:

Black-throated Blue Warbler

 
Ovenbird (all I could get!!)

Blackburnian Warbler

The camera shy warblers were an American Redstart and a Common Yellowthroat. 

I know I have two more warblers around this summer that just didn't show up that day. A few days earlier I saw this Black- throated Green Warbler.

And here's a female Yellow-rumped Warbler that was gathering nest material in my yard in early June. And I just recently saw the male yellow-rumped foraging in our trees.

I hope this is a sign of a good warbler breeding year that will lead to a great fall warbler migration, maybe one that will add a new bird or two to my yard list!

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This Year's Youngsters #5

Each day this week I'll be posting a picture of the birds that were born this year in or around my yard. I hope you enjoy!

Okay, so I left my favorite for last: a Black-capped Chickadee!  I had 12 chickadees fledge from two boxes in my yard.  Here's a cutie-patootie from the second brood, just moments after he left the nest.

I hope you enjoyed this short little series of young birds. Make sure you check all 5, and if I have any additional young show up later (hummingbirds, grosbeaks, chipping sparrows ???), I'll try to post those later.  In the meantime, enjoy the young birds in your yard!!

 

 

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This Year's Youngsters #4

Each day this week I'll be posting a picture of the birds that were born this year in or around my yard. I hope you enjoy!

Like the Hairy Woodpecker, you know this is a young Downy Woodpecker by the patch of red on the TOP of their head.  Both young males and females may show some of this coloration, but after their first molt, only a male downy will have red on the back of their head. 

This Year's Youngsters #3

Each day this week I'll be posting a picture of the birds that were born this year in or around my yard. I hope you enjoy!

It seems like there have been 2-3 different families of Hairy Woodpeckers bringing their young to our yard. The red on the top of the head tells you it's a young bird.

While the young are still in the nest, the adults bring wads of suet and Bark Butter back to the nest. Once fledged, I love watching as they introduce their young to the other feeders in our yard.

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This Year's Youngsters #2

Each day this week I'll be posting a picture of the birds that were born this year in or around my yard. I hope you enjoy!

We have a very large Blue Jay population in our area, and this year added many new jays to this raucous group.  They are amongst the whiniest young birds in our yard - it seems the bigger the bird, the whinier the baby!!

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Blue Jay Photo Bomb

This Year's Youngsters #1

Each day this week I'll be posting a picture of the birds that were born this year in or around my yard. I hope you enjoy!

Here's two Common Grackles with a youngster, the brownish one on the right.  Grackles seem to be around in bigger numbers this year. They're voracious eaters and since they can travel in large groups, they will empty your feeders in no time!