Bird Nestings & Activities in The Gardens 2011 Vol. #3

I don't know whether to be glad or sad! My two little Cardinal chicks are not in the nest. We've had a storm last night. I just looked into the nest and all was left was an empty unkept nest.

Although, I was startled by a little chirping noise on the ground earlier, and the mama Cardinal was agitated coming straight to the little chirping that I heard. I hope the babies are doing okay.

The WBNHs also are no where to be seen. Yesterday there were many on the wild Cherry tree in the garden.

Ah hah! I was impatient! The Nuthatch is back bringing food into the nest box. Next brood? I'm so thankful of what I've just seen. Hope it's a bit of good news.

Our Chickadee nesting is back on!

Awesome? New female?

LOL, I have no idea. :-)

I need to check my box. They still seem to be in and out. I'd be so happy to find eggs.

My DH went to check the box yesterday (we thought it had been abandoned) and before he could open the door he felt all this fluttering from inside the box so he walked away. She must have been in there the last few days probably laying eggs. They are being very secretive this year. We will leave them alone from now on except for taking photos. The female gets really freaked out if you mess with the nest box so I don't want to upset her.

Awesome. Well yesterday I didn't see the pair as often so I hoped that she was laying. Will try to watch today, but strong storms scheduled.

Good news on your Chickadees that are giving it another go. Pelle. My WBNHs are actively working on the next brood. I saw one today brings nesting material back to nest box. Wooohoooo! Also, I've heard their singing althrough the neighborhoods. At the first of nesting of the season I knew but one pair Nuthatches. Now they've a whole family of many members. ^_^

The Cardinals must be busy else where, their nest is vacant at the time. I can't find my Carolina Wrens' nests this spring, but they are here and active.

Happy Easter to all my birding friends;

I can smell those lilies from here!

My chickadee nest is complete, as far as I can tell. All the hair and insulation is in place. No moss though. And no eggs. I didn't expect to find any.

In other news I put up a new box for the nuthatches. That's my hope. I'm sure a house wren will be in it.

Good lucks with the NH's nest Marna. Mine are actively working on the nest again as I type. I'm not sure if it's the same couple or not, but it's working away feverishly as it was at the start of the season. Lots of luck for a successfully Chickadees nesting this year too.

I've a brand new bird at the feeder, lol. New in that it's a juvie Housefinch! It's brought to feeder by papa and she's checking out the feeder for herself. lol

Very cute Lily!

Thanks Pelle. It's harder for me to tell of the male juvies. These look like a couple of them. Look at the molting on their feathers.

Look how devilishly good looking this juvie gal is. lol

ha. funny dude!

She's so funny. I snapped so many pictures of her. I don't know because she plays tug of war with siblings or what. But I remember last year I saw one with just one 'horn'. This year, this gals has 2. lol.

She is a cutie pie, Margaret. Look at her pick and choose at the feeder. Look!

Thought I'd share my shot of the daddy cardinal feeding the juvie male on my feeder. The pair has 3 babies, two female and this one male. The little guys are starting to feed at the feeder on their own, but the parents still help out sometimes. I've had all 5 of them on the feeder at once, but haven't caught a picture of them all yet.

Yesterday they caught me out in 'their' garden, so I got to watch the whole family feeding from no more than 10 feet away!

Can anyone tell me if they will stay here over the summer, or will they migrate north?

Lily_love, I hope you came through the storms unscathed.. North Alabama got hit hard.. The storms pretty much went around us here in Atlanta.

RrrrrGrrrr, thanks we made it out safe and sound. I'm very grateful. I'm glad that it spared Atlanta and others. What terrible storm that was!

dizzypyxxy, I am not sure if they will hang around. My Cardinals appear to stay here year round. I've had two babies that fledged, but I've yet seen them accompanying papa cardinal to the feeder like last year.

Also folks, the nest was abandoned after the first brood. It's falling apart (partially due to the high wind with the weather I'm sure). Also I don't see any more activity at the Nuthatches' nest. Nuthatches continue to come to the feeder every so often for seeds and suet.

The neighbor's hedge is always a favorite spot for the cardinals to nest.

Fortunately the neighbor is somewhat bird friendly. I notified him of the bird and he will stay clear when he trims the hedge.

And my (likely sterile) Dees are still working on the nest. I thought perhaps there was finally an egg this year, but I checked yesterday and nothing. I checked because I saw the pair giving quite the chase to a house wren. I thought perhaps that indicated some eggs, and if so I wanted to install a wren guard.

But no… Anyway, i see this sight several times a day.

My cardinal family are still around often, although they are battling for the feeder with an aggressive pair of grackles lately. Rarely see mama cardinal, though. I must wonder if she is nesting again - second brood?

I also have a pair of Tufted Titmice that appear to have a fledged baby. They are so quick at the feeder I rarely get a pic of them, but I did see one adult and the juvie bathing at the waterfall in my fish pond yesterday.

Again, I am wondering if they will migrate north once the baby is ready.

Awww, Marna that's such a sweet sight of your Dee gathering nesting material. Hope their luck will change eventually and that they're NO longer sterile. DP, both Cardinals and Tufted Titmice are year-round residents here. I don't know about in your area. I wished I could help. In my small guide. The Whitebreasted Nuthatches are shown to be year-round residents in Northern part of our State. This year, I'm taking note to see if they'll hang around here (Central Alabama) in the heat of summer. I shall make myself a note on that this year.

Hey LL, you know what's funny about that? Like Pell's carolina chickadees, that tuft of hair is from one of my cats!

LOL, Mrs. Ed. You meant the one (cat) that rules the household? LOL, now the Dees are the rulers instead. lol.

Yah, Max runs the house. Molly is just a nutcase. The dogs tolerate us all. But yup, when it comes to spring migration, it's all about the birds.

About birds it's!!! Well of all thing, on this special day I discovered an unwelcoming sight of a house-invasion.....from this warrior! This is the 2nd time I spotted House Sparrow in the garden as long as I've been watching my backyard birds. Sniff sniff*

Here is the male checking out my Nuthatches' nest box. 1st time he came it must have been several weeks ago. He was scouting out the garden. Then I haven't seen him around. Today while out in the garden I heard those one syllable calls that I don't usually hear at home, but only when I was at shopping center and nursery ect. First I was a little skeptic, but sure enough, I spotted the culprit who made the call coming in and out of the nest box. Then he hops onto tree top calling-- for a mate, I reckon.

Let me back up to the last 24 hours. I've seen the Nuthatches come and go, but no active at the nest box. So I decided, perhaps they didn't want to reuse the nesting materials? So yesterday, DH helped cleaned the box out....

Here is what it looks like inside. A mess! No wonder, the darling birds didn't want to re-use the thing. DH said," No wonder, it would take them days to clean out this mess. I'm glad to be of help". lol

One swift move, the entire nesting material landed under the tree's trunk;

Shortly after we left the site;

Next, the bird even checked out the remnant what's left of the old nesting material at the base of the tree.

I was hoping that the WBNH will return and build their nest. But, no activity has taken place since. Then this afternoon, I saw the HOSP checking out the nest box. The male HOSP after came inside to check out. Then parked here to call for his mate. I assumed.

...As the male HOSP flew away, calling, calling all the while. I noticed from a distance;

He too, checked this vacant nest box!

The male HOSP also checked this one nest box out;

Oh wait just a minute! That is NO HOSP. It's my darling Eastern BB. lol I thought the HOSP was being greedy. lol

The thread is getting long, so here is a new one: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1179269/