Subject: Nest-building chickadees
Date: Apr 14 22:15:39 2003
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at telus.net


Birders,

I don't usually report on bird goings-on in my backyard, because we
don't maintain a feeder, and the backyard itself is very small.
However, today, for a change, something worth noting happened in the
backyard.

My son, Ian, built a birdhouse last year as a project at a camp that
his Grade 7 class attended. We painted it dark green and attached it
to a solid wooden fence about 5 feet off the ground. This year is the
first spring that the birdhouse has been available for occupancy.

Today in the late morning, I noticed a small bird enter the box. After
about 2 minutes, it flew out again. It was a BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE.

About an hour later, I looked out again, and this time there were a
pair of chickadees. They were hopping on the lawn next to a cedar
hedge, gathering pieces of moss, and flying into the birdbox with the
moss. (Yup, this is a typical Vancouver area lawn-- more moss than
grass in some of the shady areas.) They were going at it quite
systematically for a while, and seemed to be nest-building in earnest.

Ian seemed pleased that the birds appeared to like his nestbox.

It remains to be seen whether the chickadees actually nest in the
birdbox, but if so, I'll provide some further reports!

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net