Hi Tweeters:



I'm feeling pretty lucky tonight. In late March, I hung a birdhouse (my
brother builds them - nicely, simply designed, medium-sized, built from
cypress, vented, side-hinged for easy access/cleaning) under the eave of my
condo, about 8-feet up from ground level. I noted a pair of black-capped
chickadees checking it out several weeks ago. One of them (the female?)
even went inside, and poked her head out to check the "view." I didn't see
any more activity, except two weeks ago when I observed one of them entering
the house with what appeared to be a large piece of goose down. But over
the course of the last two weekends, I saw absolutely nothing, although I
continued to hear the male each morning - he sounds like he's in a constant
state of distress. Maybe he's wound too tight, I don't know. In any case,
I was convinced the pair had given up on the house, and found something more
to their liking in the nearby woods. This evening, after four more days of
nothing in sight, I decided to at least see what they had done to the inside
of the house. I intended to clean out whatever remnant of a nest I might
find, with the fading hope that some other latecomers (maybe a house finch,
heck, even a house sparrow) would find it suitable. As I began to remove
the fastener to swing open the side of the house, you can imagine my
surprise when she burst forth from the access hole and sped to a nearby
birch in my back yard. While delighted to see that I had successfully
attracted a nesting pair of chickadees (I have cracked sunflower seeds in
the window feeder and running water on the patio which the birdhouse
overlooks), now I was totally dismayed that I had driven them off the nest.
Not so! Only 5 minutes or so later, she was back at the entry of the
birdhouse and, even though she took considerable pause nervously looking
around, she popped back inside. I will sleep in peace tonight, knowing
these delightful little guys have found my brother's handicraft to be a safe
and comfortable home - attached to mine.



Bill Herring

Maple Valley



mailto:redherring10 at comcast.net