Backyard Tales
Hear ye, hear ye. Wild life enthusiasts rejoice! Let it be known that from this day on our backyard will be known as the "Durand's Bird Sanctuary", a fitting name for a place so full of wild life despite being really small.
Besides the bluebirds and chickadees nesting in our birdboxes, we discovered also in our Japanese maple, next to our grill, an American Robin nest with 4 eggs. No more barbecues until the little ones hatch. 🙁
American Robin eggs
I looked yesterday into the chickadee box. At least three babies have hatched and I think that probably the bluebirds too, because I have seen both, male and female, entering and leaving the bird house several times today. I’ll check tomorrow.
The bluebirds saga
Last year in March, a bluebird couple inspected our birdhouse. Obviously it wasn’t up to their standards because they didn’t come back. Soon after that, a less pretentious chickadee couple moved in and after a few weeks their three little chicks hatched.
You can see the pictures here.
This year, another bluebird couple has been checking our birdhouse and its neighborhood. Good food and water close by with a 24 hour security fence around the backyard. Maybe not the kind of luxury home to which they were accustomed but a fine house just the same.
The landlord cleaning the birdhouse.
They have been in and out several times during the day. The male perches on the roof and looks around, his head turning like a periscope, and the female goes inside to look around. But they still look undecided.
A chickadee couple has also been eyeing the house. It is too soon to know who is going to nest in our birdhouse but it will be interesting to see who will make it their home.
A Chickadee Family Event
I’m sure you remember the female chickadee from a few weeks back that set out to build a nest, even if a little lopsided, in our bird house.
After she finished her work, she laid four eggs and at their proper time, all of them hatched. She is now the proud mother of four, just in time for Mother’s Day. They all look healthy and one of them is especially audacious.
It was hard to see them inside the bird house, and even harder to photograph them, because the plastic panel which is supposed to allow us to see inside was very dirty. We need to find a better way for next time.
Here is a picture of three of the chicks at the bottom of the nest.
And here is the fourth one, climbing the ramp and looking at the world outside.
The mother feeding the climber chick waiting for her at the door. The other three were not that happy and had to wait their turn until the mother was able to get inside.
By yesterday morning, three of the chicks had already gone. This is the last chick leaving the nest. I was its first flight and it flew directly into my blind. Maybe it got confused with the autumn leaves camouflage.
The end result!
I don't know how the little chickadees managed to slant the wire mesh flooring but it seems to work anyway.
