Good morning Tweets,

While my partner is over on Bainbridge busily constructing some cottages,
I'm working over here in West Seattle with my camera as chickadees,
bushtits, and others are busy constructing their own cottages. On Tuesday I
encountered this little bushtit zipping back and forth enhancing its nest:

www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/4497995365

Although we often think of nature's creatures as knowing exactly what to do,
I found that sometimes their guesses are only as good as ours might be. This
bushtit tried to enter the nest with a twig a bit too long:

www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/4498632256

and then found that s/he'd entangled the twig with a spiderweb, so that it
took repeated yanks to get the darn thing freed up:

www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/4498632738

And finally, a Black-Capped Chickadee is apparently reusing one of last
year's nest holes:

www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/4505935366

However, I usually see him *exiting* the nest hole with something in his
beak, rather than *entering* with material. Does that mean they're using
this hole now for storage rather than nesting? Or is the material likely to
be debris that they're clearing out in preparation or caring for nestlings?

Good birding to all,
Trileigh

* * * * *
Trileigh Tucker
Lincoln Park, West Seattle