Subject: Spring day in the yard
Date: Apr 21 12:52:56 2003
From: Michael Dossett - phainopepla at yahoo.com


Hi,

Your note about the chickadees nesting in an uncapped
pole is interesting. I wonder if any other tweeters
have seen this before? a vertical cavity which is
open on the top is definately an interesting place for
the nest. Last spring a pair of black-capped
chickadees built a nest in a 4 foot tall rusted pipe
that stuck out of the ground vertically near the
research lab where I work on the University of
Washington campus. They began laying a clutch but
then the nest was abandoned.

Michael Dossett
Bothell, WA
phainopepla at yahoo.com


--- The Findlay's <hawkowl at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Hi Charlie, I just read your e-mail and noticed the
> part about the hissing
> chickadee. I've heard the exact same thing.
> Last spring there was a Black-capped Chickadee nest
> at my school. It was
> inside a teatherball pole. I noticed them flying
> about with big pieces
> of fluff in their beaks.They were trying to get into
> the pole but whenever
> they tryed to someone would run past the pole not
> knowing anything about the
> nest and scaring them. After they got in they didn't
> come out very much
> after that. So I checked on them two weeks later and
> there were six
> eggs.They were quite protective of them.When people
> came around they would
> start hissing. Chickadees are quite
> entertaining.Well let's hope this
> years batch of baby chickadees will survive.
> See ya
> Jess Findlay, Burnaby.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Charlie Wright" <charlie at birdwright.com>
> To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2003 11:59 PM
> Subject: Spring day in the yard
>
>
> > Hello Tweeters,
> >
> > Today there were a few interesting birds
> around - I saw the first
> three
> > Vaux's Swifts of the year this morning, right on
> schedule. Later in the
> day
> > I had a yard bird, a Savannah Sparrow was in one
> of the brush piles. They
> > breed nearby, but my yard itself is not their type
> of habitat. This one
> was
> > associating with a Gambell's White-crowned
> Sparrow, also unusual in my
> yard,
> > and both of them were trying to stay out of view
> from the breeding pair of
> > pugetensis White-crowns. On April 9th, four
> singing Fox Sparrows showed
> up
> > here. Two of them stayed until the next day, and
> one stayed and sung
> > constantly (chasing around the nesting juncos and
> acting very territorial)
> > until yesterday, when it finally decided to head
> north. This morning
> > Yellow-rumped Warblers were flying overhead at a
> great height in flocks of
> > 5-10, up until about 9:00a.m. Two Varied Thrushes
> are still here, one a
> > typical female and one which has no trace of any
> breast band at all. I'd
> > never seen one like that before. Interestingly,
> both birds were singing
> > short, burry whistles.
> >
> > A pair of Chestnut-backed Chickadees is
> building a nest; for the first
> 6
> > days they used exclusively green moss from the
> lawn, and since then have
> > been finding bits of dry grass and especially
> animal fur around the yard.
> > Today I saw one of them (I believe the female, the
> male was "singing" a
> > short ways off) defending the nest from the
> White-crowned Sparrow pair.
> It
> > would fly at them, and make a surprisingly loud
> hissing noise very much
> like
> > a large snake. After the chickadee did this about
> 5 times, the sparrows
> got
> > the message and flew to another area of the yard.
> This hiss is the same
> > noise I've heard females make on the nest while
> incubating, when
> disturbed.
> > But I'd never heard the noise outside of a cavity.
> That's all for now.
> >
> > Cheers and good birding,
> > --
> > Charlie Wright
> > Sumner, WA
> > charlie at birdwright.com
> >
>
>


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