This is an image of a Chickadee that has been roosting in an old stump that was by my window every night. I was outside this morning and found him dead at the base of it. He had one missing leg (which looked like it healed over a long time ago) and didn’t look like he was caught by something. I am thinking he either died of old age, or infection, due to his missing leg. Any suggestions as to what happened?
Nest building in progress.
Black Capped Chickadees building nest.
Black Capped Chickadees nest building.
Noticed yesterday on the cam that 3/4 of the bluebird eggs had holes poked in them. Bluebird female returned to sit on eggs overnight. Male bluebird removed the damaged eggs this morning, then later today captured video of a chickadee destroying the final egg.
Year over year this has been a productive bluebird box. This is a fist time I’ve observed this behavior.
We have several nestboxes that we monitor and maintain on our property. Each year, they are full of babies…some having 2 to 4 broods with us.
Three young black capped chickadees. Should be four more eggs under there!
This year, no troubles with House Wrens taking the nest box. Last year, the wrens evicted the chickadees and built their nest atop the completed chickadee nest. The House Wrens did raise two successful broods, though.
Date and time stamp on the photo.
Chickadees are very smart and inquisitive little birds. I believe these birds deserve more attention than they get, because they are just amazing. So just because a bird is not brightly colored or has the most creative song, does not mean it is not truly beautiful.
An alarm from a Black Capped Chickadee sounds off. All the rest in the flock freeze like branches. The only movements they make are the slight movement of their chests and the occasional blink. I walk closer, so close that I could rub my finger along a chickadees back. It took almost a full minute till they snapped out of it and flew away. What kind of behavior was this? I’ve seen flocks fly away when one sounds an alarm but never stay still for a complete minute! These little energetic balls almost never stay still.
I refilled the feeder and ten minutes later . . they feast!
Fall is probably my favorite season, the crisp fall air, bright yellow, orange, red leaves, and the migration of birds. Even though these birds are not migrating bird in our area, I still love to watch them peck at the feeder till it’s empty. I can remember the first time I saw a white, breasted nuthatch, I call them “Ninja Birds “, because they would run up our feeder post, then look from side to side, then grab a treat. And the sweet call of the chickadees calling. Every year I’ve tried and tried to hold sunflowers out and have a “chick” land on me.
And this fall I finally did it! The “chick” was so curious. So be it the fall air, the morning hikes, or the migrating birds, I love fall!
Black capped chickadee nest in Rochester, MI April 9-May 26, 2020. Nest is located in wooden birdhouse attached to a pole on a second floor balcony in a condo subdivision.
Black capped chickadee nest in Rochester, MI April 9-May 26, 2020. Nest is located in wooden birdhouse attached to a pole on a second floor balcony in a condo subdivision.
One of 19 nest boxes I monitor at work
Sorry for the not-so-great pictures. Aside from the three kinds of warblers, I saw a European Starling, two Ospreys, robins, crows, Tree Swallows, Black-capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, and White-breasted Nuthatches.
A close-up on a Black-capped Chickadee!
This beautiful little fellow has been chasing the Black-capped Chickadees around ALL day! They have a ton of energy!
Have a new chickadee bird house set up and put wood chips or pine shavings in there and now the black capped chickadees are in the process of the excavation aka taking the wood chips out. I will be worried about house wrens when then come back because they will be curious of the box too!
An unusual nest for a Black-capped Chickadee. Chickadees usually use moss to build their nests, but this one decided to re-use a Tree Swallow nest.
Checked my box yesterday (Wed) after seeing a chickadee bringing nesting material inside on Tuesday. Looks like a House Wren was pretty active Wednesday morning!
Black capped chickadees have hatched and one more egg still has to hatch. Got 6 nestlings.
Mama chickadee took a break from incubating her eggs and I took the opportunity to take a quick picture of the inside of the nest. 7 Eggs! Hoping for babies in a couple of weeks.
I uploaded a second picture that was more centered and showed all the eggs better.
this is on 82 Camic Road in Central Square in my parents backyard by the lilac bushes. Just to note on the map of my submission it points where my apartment is not my parents house where the video was taken. I go to my parents house to watch the birds and take pictures. This video is a second pair of chickadees excavating woodchips out of the nest box which is right next to the other nestbox that has the nest in it.
I add woodchips earlier in March to the chickadee nests boxes on my parents property and a pair began excavating them out and now have been building there nest with moss from the yard and horse hair from a barn I ride at when shedding season comes. No signs of eggs yet in the nest. I am waiting and checking every once in while because not sure if the chickadees are waiting or are not ready to lay eggs yet. just waiting…….
Pygmy Nuthatchs found this nesting cavity first then Red-breasted Nuthatchs toke over then Black-capped Chickadees toke over.
Black-capped Chickadees evicted by House Wrens. Wrens constructing a nest on top of the mossy chickadee nest.
Quick exit by Black-capped Chickadee during nest construction. This box built to NestWatch plans for titmouse/nuthatch. Chickadees like it just fine. The pole is located in a mossy area.
This week, a pair of House Wrens took possession of an empty nest box built to chickadee specifications!
5 Bluebird eggs were in this nest originally. I found 2 broken eggs on the ground and another was missing the morning of April 24. 2 eggs remained in the best. I put up a camera in an attempt to see what bird was responsible. A few hours later, a pair of chickadees are caught on camera going in and out of the nesting box. I edited 2.5 hours of video down to 12 minutes of activity. Skip to 10:58 to see the egg in the chickadee’s beak. Papa Bluebird returns at (12:06) the end of the video to find his home raided.
We thought a predator had gotten to this nest and gotten all the hatchlings. The bird house is in rough shape but the chickadees nested before I could replace it. I was quite happy to see that at least two made it!
Eight newly hatched baby chickadees captured as part of our bird monitoring program within our work campus.
Here’s the link to my USTREAM live 24/7 stream of the split screen now showing both our Black Capped Chickadee nest and our Violet Green Swallow nest at the same time. The screen has a date/time stamp.
The Chickadee as laid 7 eggs which should hatch any day now (as of 5-10-17) and the Swallow is finishing her nest and should lay eggs soon. Please also click on “Follow” when in USTREAM and share it with anyone else who may be interested
Black Capped Chickadee female just laid 7 eggs and had a bee visit while brooding, and quickly got rid of it!
Chickadees building nest in box equipped with camera streaming to YouTube.
I found this nest accidentally while filling up my bird feeders! Saw the female slip inside this teeny tiny hole, about 1 1/12 inch wide, and had to peer inside! Nest seems fully completed, but no eggs yet!
This nest is about 7 feet off the ground, inside a dead tree cavity. I am not sure if there was a previous nest here or not. Definitely looking forward to watching this pair, as I’m a Chickadee lover!
~Take care, Kat
Black-capped Chickadees in nest box at my home in Bismarck, ND in spring 2016. Successfully fledged. Hope to see again soon this year.
This looks like a Chickadee family but I’m not sure. Definitely a fledgling and 2 adults but the one above looks like a Chestnut-backed and the adult below looks like a Black-capped, the baby looks a bit more like a Chestnut-backed too. Do they cross breed?
You can ignore the first mystery, it was a dead hummer at my feeder then after that I had a couple of nest mysteries, the still shots show what I was up against. First, a Black-capped Chickadee nest…and only one ‘hatchling’ with some four or five other eggs that never hatched. Second, a Western Bluebird nest that after the season was over I found a dead what I think was a female Violet-green Swallow in, underneath- and a couple of Bluebird eggs that never hatched. Two nest oddities.
Just hatched June 11 & 12, 2016
Black-capped Chickadee nest box observational photos. It was a pleasure to watch these little darlings grow. It was even more exciting to see them frequent the feeder once they were on their own.
Three Chickadees being raised in backyard Bluebird House.
Our new neighbours have developed an intense liking for one of the skylofts in our backyard. It’s conveniently situated near amenities like the suet feeder, bird seed stations, nectar feeder (and the apple and plum trees, which are in full blossom). Lots of renovation has been taking place lately. We have been hearing lots of tapping of the inner walls, seeing removal of the cedar wood chips this morning, and witnessed countless trips to and from their new digs. The exciting question is, will they be raising their family in it soon?
This was taken in 2012, the first year I had BC chickadees use one of my bluebird boxes. All five babies successfully fledged and I had the joy of watching their parents teach them the ins and outs of bird feeders, bugs and other treats in our yard.
Black-capped Chickadee pair nesting in brain cavity of bull skull hanging on back of house as a decoration. Overhang and proximity to house creates perfect viewing and shelter from elements and predators.
Nestling Chickadees.
Mamma keeping close watch of nest as I inspect the next box
Growth Progression of Black Capped Chickadee Young, from egg to fledge.
One of three Chickadee chicks being feed…later that day, they all left the nest.
A chickadee nest was built in a metal pole we have protecting our well from driveway activity. The 3.5 foot pole is hollow and filled with sand up to about the last 5-8 inches. We had a decorative elf on top of the hole which is 3 inches in diameter. It left a narrow opening of .75 inch wide by 2 inches long which the chickadees went into to build the nest. The first fledgling made it out in 16 days after hatching, however the second one could not. We watched the parents care for the one that fledged and then return with food for the nestling. However, we had a significant rain storm which caused the nest to settle further down into the pipe. The parents continued to feed the nestling, but not as frequent as before, and the mother no longer spent nights in the nest. After an additional 11 days and then chirping and flapping by the nestling we decided to move the elf over a bit. We did and soon the nestling fledged successfully! The parents found it and fed it much more frequently than when it had been in the nest. After hopping on the ground and some peony bushes for about an hour, it flew into a pine tree and both parents brought it food every few minutes. We video taped that but I am unsure if I can attach that. The fledgling later flew with its parents into a thick stand of spruce and oak trees. Two chickadees survived from this nesting experience. The nest was only 20 feet from our main entrance to our house so we could sit outside and watch the activity all day. It was a tremendous experience!
Checking the nesting box where wren material was located and I found a black capped chickadee nest with one hatchling and four eggs. Mama chickadee close by scolding me.
I thought, since there was only one hatchling from 7 eggs, that this was a cowbird. Now I think it looks like a chickadee. Anyone know for sure?
A couple of chickadees chose our decorative birdhouse to make a family and 6 young fledged successfully 06/07
Comstock STEM Academy students are monitoring this nest box and 9 others.
Adult chickadee carrying a “poop sack” out of the nest box.
The hole where these chickadees had previously nested rotted out so we built a box and attached it to the tree near the old hole. TheBlackcapped Chickadees took to it and made a beautiful nest and when they were finished with it, a Mountain Chickadee took it over and raised another brood.