It Started Like Any Other
I know we bird lovers who provide nest box homes for our back yard birds get so used to the cycle. We know every spring (or even late winter here in Nashville) we’re going to see bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, wrens and others checking out our nest boxes. Somebody’s going to make a home there. Doing all we can to help them and make sure everything is progressing when we can. Believing in the power of nature to regulate itself, we figure a couple more eyes couldn’t hurt.
That’s how it was a few weeks ago when I noticed a chickadee couple checking out both my bluebird box and then the wren box . At this time, the bluebirds had already started a nest (one they never finished) in the bluebird box so the choice was simple. They started building the moss foundation for what would soon progress to an engineering marvel of grass, moss, cat hair, and some rootlets. Every time I see one of these finished I am in awe of how this information could be passed along genetically from one generation to the next!
Home Built. Time For Kids!
As we’ve seen so many times before, now that the nest is finished the female starts laying eggs in there. I always try to make sure are moving along without annoying them or scaring them. Before we know it, there are 4-6 eggs and now it’s just a waiting game. I know that sometime within the next week they will start hatching.
One At A Time, Our Family Emerges
I still get excited after many years every time this happens. Each day, one or two of them emerges and the parents are scurrying to clean up and make sure they’re comfortable and fed. Before long, all six of my chickadees hatched. I got the next pic while the parents were in the trees fussing at me so I tried to make it quick. I’ve gotten very good at “beak counting” so I confirmed that at least five of them had hatched. Since it’s not unusual for them to lay on top of each other I felt confident they had all hatched. Here’s what I saw.
Things Were Going Along Just Fine
Is there anything NOT to love about watching bird parents taking care of their young? Chickadees especially. Their antics begin to look like a finely tuned circus acrobatic act. Taking turns flying in and out of the box and even the occasional bottleneck when both show up with food. The fussing that ensues is nothing short of hilarious. Again, I am stymied by how they could just grow up to learn how to do this. We humans do not give animals or birds nearly enough credit for their immense intelligence!
This is usually the time I leave them alone for longer periods because they don’t need me interrupting feeding. I just step aside and let nature do the work.
This activity continued for the better part of a week. At this point, I wanted to check on them and see how they were getting along. I know they were still not old enough to fly or jump out of the box so I felt safe. I’ve got to say in seventeen years of providing nest box homes for birds in my back yard I was not prepared for what I would see.
Tragedy Strikes
As I was approaching the nest box, I saw something that got my attention. At the base of the pole was a black spot. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a dead baby chickadee. I have not included a picture of him/her because it’s just too hard to see it and I thought I’d spare you.
When I finally opened the box, all that I saw one one poor, probably cold, little chickadee baby. They seemed to be doing well but I was sure they missed their brothers and sisters.
Simple mathematics tells me there were four babies unaccounted for. I looked all around the pole and yard for a good distance to be sure but saw nothing else. Here is the pic of the survivor.
Solving The Nest Box Mystery
Of course I had more questions than answers. How did this happen? There was no obvious clues like snake skin (a twitter follower suggested a snake) cat hair, blood or anything to suggest one possibility over another. Here is a short list of things to consider.
- Although a reader had suggested a snake I’ve never seen any in my back yard or had a problem with them. Surely one would have been hit by a mower or something.
- The pole is baffled from squirrels but not raccoons. Although we’ve had raccoons in the past, we haven’t seen any at night letting out our dog.
- The people that cut our lawn are quality people but the guy who was cutting that day was new and may have just run into it very hard.
- There were no other birds courting that box so I don’t believe anybody was mad about them moving in.
I Need YOUR Help
This is the part where I ask you, the reader, to let me know if you have any experience with having nest boxes, for chickadees or any others, being ransacked like this. I’m afraid that I’m more inclined to believe it was the mowing guy. The pole seemed like it had been bent just a little and the ground was disturbed. While our moles and groundhogs do a ton of damage this way, the pole appears it may have been moved.
However, even if the pole were hit violently that doesn’t explain where the little ones had gotten to. I’m afraid that if this happened the mowing guy just ran them over without knowing or that they laid there where they were snapped up by a visiting hawk.
Any help you could give me would be appreciated. Leave a comment below and let’s talk about this. Thank you!
Hope you are staying safe this year,
Jeff
Silver Lining
After all was said and done the last little chickadee did fledge.
Since that time I’ve noticed the parents feverishly flying back and forth from the suet and mealworms to feed what is obviously more than one baby. Yeah! Plus, the noise I’m hearing up in the trees could not possibly be coming from ONE chickadee.
Here’s what I think happened.
However the nest was disturbed, all but the one I found dead made it under the wooden fence nearby and were tended to by mom and dad until they were able to fly. It might sound like a long shot but it’s the only explanation that makes sense to me. They were not that far from being able to fly and could easily have hopped away with the parents’ careful nudging (read squawking-LOL!)
So, my nest box tragedy turned out much better than I previously feared. Thankful for that.
It sounds like your lawn guy ran right into your pole . Hopefully you have a 1 1/8 hole reducer on the box because a house sparrows would kill anything in the box if he can get in I have had house wrens also go into my chickadee boxes and kill babies.
Hi Mic,
Thanks for stopping by and giving your thoughts.
I would go along with that if it weren’t for not having house wrens at that time or house sparrows to speak of. The box is well within my sight and I watched what was happening each day. Never saw one of those birds showing any interest in it. Plus, only finding one bird would not be possible with either of them. I just recently had a house wren attack on a titmouse nest and there was NO doubt what had happened. Parents were way too busy feeding for only one bird.
I feel for YOUR house wren attack. Unless it’s just chickadees nesting, I couldn’t reduce the size of the hole for my titmice or THEY wouldn’t have been able to get in or out. They’re just too close in size to house wrens.
Jeff
I just had an entire nest of new chickadees ‘disappear” the day after they hatched. Six of 7 had hatched and I was checking the nest on day two and was shocked to find it completely empty! I was heartbroken! They were nesting in Bluebird House and I had not heard of the size adaptor…so thanks for that – I’m convinced that a House Sparrow got in there. I have a Wild Birds Unlimited house, on a pole with a baffle, so I don’t see how it could have been a snake/raccoon/squirrel. I’m just sick over it!! I also have a 2nd box with 5 Blue Bird eggs almost ready to hatch…is there anything I can do to prevent Sparrows from getting them?
Hi Claire,
I truly feel your pain as I just recently had a nest of titmice tossed out by house wrens who were just looking for a place! I too am sick about it. Do you have house wrens in your back yard (google house wren sounds and you should find the Cornell Lab site with sounds) because they are brutally territorial. Do you know if the parents were killed? I know it’s a horrible thing to ask but house sparrows are much more likely to kill everybody than the house wrens.
If I understand you correctly, you put a size restrictor so maybe it would be more challenging for the house sparrows? If so, their smaller relatives, the house wrens could still get in and out easily.
What I would recommend is either calling Wild Birds Unlimited and asking if they have a “wren guard” or googling it if you’re the creative/handy type.
If you’re SURE it’s house sparrows, then I would check out this excellent article from the Spruce. Don’t miss the sparrow spooker part.
https://www.thespruce.com/discouraging-house-sparrows-386419
Let me know how this goes, please.
Jeff
I’m bettin’ it’s house sparrows. I don’t see how bumping into the pole could knock baby birds out of an enclosed box
I found that article on geting rid of house sparrows pretty useless– just wishful thinking– How do you encourage other birds and yet discourage the sparrows?
I built a bird trap last winter. I caught several goldfinches, juncoes, chickadees each day– even a cardinal (they’re really small. The long tail makes them look much bigger.)..but aftr three weeks, I had caught only one @#$% house sparrow.–and it was a female and I wasn’t sure if it was a house sparrow or some other species, so I let it go anyway.
I put out bluebird nesting boxes which are invariably taken over by house sparrows, so I just empty the nest periodically (hopefully with eggs in it) but that hasn’t made an appreciable dent in their population.
Maybe we can fund the Wuhan Lab to find us an enhanced virus that affects only house sparrows?
Hi doc,
I’m sorry you got no value from the house sparrows article. Over the 18 plus years I’ve been feeding birds here I’ve been selective and attentive and I have nearly no house sparrows in my back yard. Every time I see their numbers rising it’s because I’ve ignored one of the rules. For instance, this year I started seeing more of them and realized a bush in my back yard had gotten overgrown and they were perching there. We cut it back severely and they left.
I’m not a big fan of trying to trap birds either. Your experience mimics others who have tried this.
Jeff
I had a chickadee nest tragedy that I need help with. As we approached to monitor nest this past week I observed some of the down coming from the bottem of the front panel.. Didn’t think anything of it until we opened the front of the box. The beautifully engineered nest was gone and 3 babies were laying in the bottem of the nest box. Absolutely no evidence of the nest materials anywhere around the box…!?!? We have a squirrel/snake baffle . But what would clean out a nest (with some babies perhaps) and leave three babies?? So confusing.
Hi Ingrid,
So sorry to hear of this happening!
This sounds like the work of a house wren or house sparrow but you should have seen SOME nesting material on the ground (along with a baby or two) around the box. If it’s not too late, you could look up a wildlife rehabilitator in your area and see if they take nestlings.
Is the box somewhere you can see it from a room you spend time in at your house? Are you hearing the trilly song of a house wren? I just evicted one several times in the last few days and he finally got the message that it’s a bluebird box (they’ve already raised one brood there) but he WAS persistent! I started doing this after a pair killed titmouse babies and ransacked their nest a couple years ago. This happened even after both families had moved in, laid eggs and had babies. He just decided the back yard was his.
Jeff
I have a nesting box under my eaves. The parents were happily flying to and fro to get food but all activity has suddenly ceased. I doubt that a snake could reach the box or a rat, There’s no sound from the box and I fear the worst. We do have wrens here in South Carolina but I’ve never seen them near the box, nor have I seen any sparrows. It’s April 20th and maybe the chicks have hatched and gone but perhaps that’s wishful thinking. I don’t want to handle the box in case I’m wrong. Should I just keep watching and hoping?
Hi Marco,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
If you’re not sure how long the babies have been hatched, then your best course of action would be to get up on a ladder (if you’re comfortable with that. otherwise, ask somebody) to take a look at the nest. The parents won’t abandon it because you looked at it.
When you say “wrens” do you mean house wrens or Carolina wrens. House wrens are relentless and will kill the young. Carolina might just to amuse them.
If you can get a look, please do and let us know what you find.
Here’s placing the thought that time just got away from you and everybody’s fine. Hold that one, could you?
Jeff
Thanks for your prompt response Jeff. I tried looking into the bird house but I couldn’t see a thing. The previous owners left it there and it’s a home-made job designed so that peeking in is nigh-on impossible. I would have to unscrew the bottom panel and, if an nest was in there, such an action might destroy it. I did listen though and heard nothing. My wife and I have been extra vigilant but, alas, no sign of our little friends. It’s odd that there would be so much bird activity for a few days and then nothing.
Yes, we do have Carolina wrens here. They’re noisy little fellows but I have not seen one in the vicinity of the bird house. One sits on my windowsill outside the kitchen and picks up insects there. He has no fear of humans at all.
I will give it until next Thursday, April 27th, then I will disassemble the bird house and purchase a better one for next year.
Regards,
Marco
Hi Marco,
It’s not unusual for there to be a lot of activity before they leave the nest and then nothing. The parents usually herd them a few yards away and tell them to stay and be quiet-LOL!
The Carolina wrens are not your enemy. Only the house wrens would be if you had them. The fact that you’ve not seen dead birds on the ground beneath the box is a VERY good sign! Any bird trying to take over a nest chucks the babies out first thing.
Sounds like replacing this house would be a great idea. It needs to be cleaned after each brood so make sure you get either a wood or sustainable fiber house when you replace it. And make sure it opens on the side and has good ventilation at the top. I’m assuming your summers there get as hot or hotter than they do here in Nashville.
Let me know how this goes, will you?
Jeff
That’s’ heartening to hear. Let’s hope mum and dad are doing what you’ve described. As for Carolina wrens, I love them. Their songs are nice and they have a good repertoire.
I will keep you posted.
Your culprit could very well had been a cuckoo bird. Cuckoo’s lay eggs in other birds’ nests, and the baby cuckoo, once it hatches, pushes (literally) the rest of the original chicks out of the nest. It would explain the fact that you saw a dead baby on the pole. The last baby also looks much gray-er and larger than then a baby chickadee. The noise and food would also be explained by the fact that cuckoo chicks need a lot more food and make a lot more noise. Hope this helps!
Hello PotatoBIRB,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Here in Tennessee, the Cuckoo would be a rare occurrence. Coupling that with my nest box monitoring and I would have seen the odd egg. I’ve had more trouble with house wrens that can be ruthless when they feel threatened. The tossing of chicks is consistent with this as well.
Oddly, this year I had my first chipping sparrow feeding a young cowbird. Can you imagine that? I felt so bad for her because the “baby” had almost certainly starved the siblings and this poor little bird couldn’t possibly keep that baby fed. She was trying her best but I joke with people and say the cowbird probably just got hungry and ate HER-LOL!
Jeff
Hello Jeff,
Hope this note reaches you. My partner and I woke this morning to find our bird box (purchased at Wild Birds Unlimited and specifically for chickadees) with the hinged front panel wide open and the contents of the box, including the nest and lots of feathers, on the deck below. Both parents had been feeding their young (non stop) for well over a week. We estimated the young would have fledged within 1 -3 days. Whatever climbed up on a bench and flower box was able to reach the nest, open the front panel and pull out all the contents. We have looked all around for young that could be on the ground, in planters, etc. Nothing.
We put the the contents of the nest back in the box (obviously pointless, but just couldn’t toss them away). The parent(s) are still flying back with food, tweeting their familiar tweet, entering the box, coming back out with the food still in their beak…heartbreaking.
Any thoughts on what might have gotten into the box?
Hi Sharon,
So sorry you had to go through this! I remember the heartbreak we felt when they were just taken from us.
Is your feeder on a pole with a baffle of any kind? If it’s within jumping distance of a squirrel or raccoon those would be the first I would suspect. I had people who knew also tell me ours could have been a snake. Since that has happened, we did lose a brood of cardinals that decided to nest in a bush that a snake found.
I am surprised to hear the parents are returning because they are usually the FIRST to realize their babies are gone.
The fact that the box had been opened leads me to believe it was a squirrel or raccoon.
Again, sorry this has happened. If you haven’t, I would look into setting the nest boxes further back in your yard and baffling them.
Let me know if I can help any further, ok?
Jeff
Hello Jeff,
Thank you so much for your prompt reply. The bird box is under a deep eve on our deck. Townhouse living, so no option to have a pole in a yard. The eve is large, roughly three times the depth/height of the bird box, well protected from rain, wind and sun (full southern exposure in Vancouver, Canada), and roughly seven feet off the deck. There is a floor to ceiling window on one side of the box (so difficult for a critter to climb), and a bench, with a flower box behind it, and a trellis behind the flower box, on the other side The trellis ends roughly a foot beneath the bird box. It would be a bit of a balancing act to reach the box, with a three storey drop on the other side of the trellis. There is no baffling but the box is securely fastened under the eve.
This was the first time in roughly five years of having chickadees successfully nest/fledge their young in this box/location that there was a disturbance. Snakes are not a concern here but we have an abundance of squirrels. There is a relatively heavy, fiber wrapped hose about five feet below the box that rests on a hook. As this had been thrown onto the deck and had threads torn, I suspect you are correct is suggesting a racoon, as the hose would be rather heavy for a squirrel to push or kick off while trying to reach the nest. I also think that had we secured the hinged front with a screw it would have made it much more difficult for a critter to open, although they may still have been able to reach inside.
I suspect the parent or parents were out foraging and returned very soon after the box had been ransacked. It probably did not help that I put the contents of the nest/feathers back in the box. After a few hours they had stopped returning.
Going forward, we will move the box so that it is centred over the window but still under the eve for protection. We will secure the hinged front, and baffle the box with aluminum flashing.
Any further thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Hi Sharon,
I’m usually a lot quicker replying on weekends so I’m glad you caught me.
I agree about the raccoon. While you’d be surprised what a squirrel can move and get up to, I think this may be a tall order for one.
I’m curious: when you say three storey drop, are you saying you’re on the top of the building by any chance? The frayed hose if there was also roof access kind of points back at a squirrel. I’d love it if you could send a pic to help at birdoculars dot com so I could see the eve and the box.
My bottom line has always been EVERY time a homeowner underestimates a squirrel they lose-LOL!
Jeff
Hello Jeff,
Thank you again for your insights.
Yes, I am at the top of an old home that was converted into townhomes. There is roof access from nearby trees that has been used by squirrels and occasionally racoons, but there are also stairs from the ground up used by all the residents. When we have racoons on our decks they usually use the stairs…at least during day and evening. I have not seen racoons in the neighbourhood for the last couple of years although one appeared last week. There is considerable construction underway on nearby lots and compost bins have a “new and improved” design that seems to be effective in keeping the racoons out. Neighbours who comment on the absence of racoons have associated this with the construction and “difficult” compost bins.
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of squirrels…they always win!
I have tried sending photos to birdoculars.com but the address is not being accepted. If you could confirm, I will retry.
Thank you once again.
Sharon
Hi Sharon,
I’ve sent a separate email for you to attach your photos to.
Construction and the displacement of wildlife can be a HUGE factor in animal behavior! These poor raccoons are just running out of places to feed and breed.
About squirrels: I’ve written extensively on how to navigate them. Check out this link and just pick the article that most catches you.
https://www.birdoculars.com/?s=squirrels
Looking forward to seeing those pics! Thanks for hanging in there!
Jeff
You wrote you evicted some house wrens. How did you do this. I am trying to keep them from taking over the nest box my chickadees have start checking out …..
Hi Jill,
The only thing you can do is keep removing each attempt at taking the nest box. BE WARNED: if they have finished the nest and put eggs in it DO NOT do anything more! They are EXTREMELY territorial and will seek out any attempts by other birds to take either “THEIR” next box or any other nest box in your yard. And by that I mean they will KILL babies, parents and anybody who looks at them the wrong way! NO JOKE intended.
If they have a nest established just LEAVE THEM BE and try the above suggestions after their brood has fledged. NOT before.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can help further.
Jeff
Ok, thanks. No nests built yet (I am in Canada), last year chickadee nest was built early June, so am trying to see what I can do until then. I had another nest box I haven’t used so put it up near the trees they retreat to. But given your comments, they probably are focussed now on my main box ….. thanks again for your reply!
Hi Jill,
Happy to help! Do let us know how this plays out, will you?
Jeff
Ha ha! Will do!
Update ……. I put up a box in the tree line at the back of my small property where the wrens always retreated to …… sticks appeared in both the original and new nest boxes, but the sticks looked more orderly in the new one by the tree line. I let that one be and emptied sticks from the original nest box. But chickadees were no longer interested in the original box, so I bought another house and put it at the side of the house near my front yard. Chickadees were interested but the wren found it too, but after a couple of visits, the wren left it alone. Then the box by the tree line was full of sticks with a nesting area, and soon after ……. eggs! The wrens were focused on their eggs (7). In the meantime, chickadees collected moss and built a nest quickly and are now incubating 7 eggs! They both seem to be focused on their own nests now, the original nest box between the two has become “no birds land”. Nothing is interested in it now. But placement of the new bird houses and timing seems to have helped.
Hi Jill,
That was a nail-biter for me-LOL!
I’m glad you were able to accommodate both moms and also able to establish a neutral ground. I only hope that the house wrens continue to honor that “no birds land” because my sources tell me they may not. Don’t want to put you on high alert or anything. I just really hope the wrens continue to be preoccupied with their own and not split their focus between that and “their” territory.
Please update me when they’ve hatched, fledged, etc. Will you?
Jeff
Hello Jeff,
I am totally new to having a bird house in my backyard. I set up a new bird house last autumn, and was very happy to see some chickadees seemed to be interested in it by flying in and out of the bird house. Last month I saw a lovely nest in the bird house, and noticed that some chickadees have been visiting it frequently. But then it has been all very quiet since last weekend. I couldn’t help but check the birdhouse this morning, and saw just one egg in the nest… I have no idea if it’s…normal? Now I’m wondering if the chickadee parents will be back and lay more eggs, or maybe they abandoned the nest because it’s a small backyard, and my child playing wildly in the backyard is a thread to them? 🙁 what should I do with the one egg in the nest if they are not coming back…
Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Pin,
It’s really hard to say without knowing more but I think it’s one of two possibilities. First, is that one egg just didn’t hatch. From the traffic you said you saw the others may have hatched and fledged. Do you see any signs in the house of this? Poop is a big one and it would be quite a bit if they’ve fledged. The other is that something like a snake got them. But they wouldn’t leave one egg either.
Tell me more about the inside of the nest box, will you?
Jeff
This is the first year that I’ve had chickadees nest in my bird house. I love chickadees. I heard them chirping in the box all the way up to when I saw one sticking it head out and finally jumped out. Waited for more to jump. Didn’t see anymore. Just figured I missed them jumping. When we cleaned the bird house there were 2 fully grown baby dead. Does anyone know what could have happened? Did I do something wrong?
Thanks for any help.
Linda
Hi Linda,
Sorry you had to witness that. Do you know if you have house sparrows or house wrens around? These are the two small enough to get into a chickadee box that will kill any and all who inhabit it.
No, you didn’t do anything wrong. Do you still see the parents?
Jeff
Hello Jeff,
Thank you so much for the reply! I looked into the bird house today, but I don’t really think I saw any poop like things. There are some down feather like things (not much, I thought those were from the parents?) , and a lonely tiny egg. I don’t think there are snakes in my backyard, but sometimes there are squirrels hopping between trees. The bird house is far away from trees, so I don’t think it’s the squirrel. The egg is very close to the opening of the bird house.
Hi Pin,
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like any of the eggs hatched and were probably taken before that. Unless you see either of the parents around the house I would just clean it out so they can try again.
As to not having this happen again, I don’t know. I didn’t think I had snakes in my back yard until I saw the one that had eaten the baby cardinals nesting in a nearby bush.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Oh no that is sad… I haven’t seen any chickadees around the bird house for the entire week… 🙁
Do you have any suggestions what should I do with the remaining one egg in the bird house? Would like to try again… and do you have some tips to prevent other predators getting the egg? My birdhouse sits on an 80 inch Pole near my house. I am thinking changing the location though, as there are too many human activities around the current location.
And thank you again for you suggestions and thoughts! It really helps a lot.
Pin
Hi Pin,
If the egg has been around as long as you say it has been unattended then I’m pretty sure it’s not going to hatch. You may contact your local wildlife rehab office and get a better idea.
How close is the nest box to your house? If it’s close enough for anything to jump onto it then that might be an issue. Also, is the pole baffled so an animal can’t climb up an look in it?
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thanks again for your kindly reply. I just cleaned the nesting box today, and found four half egg shells and an unhatched one. The egg shells are in a hole on the side of the nest, so I thought there was only one egg close to the opening when I peeked through the side panel. Maybe there were three eggs at the beginning?
The nesting box is in a flower bed close to my house, maybe squirrels can jump from the beam to the bird house… the pole is a smooth metal pole, and is attached on the bottom of the box. I’m thinking moving it to the other side of the house, where there is no beam.
Pin
Hi Pin,
I hate to say it but if you found half egg shells then the nest was definitely raided. Otherwise, the parents remove the shells and drop them far away not to alert predators. I’m just surprised the left ANY whole eggs at all.
If there is any way for the squirrels to climb up the pole (no baffle, for instance) then they WILL!
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Oh no, that is a really sad news 🙁 I was wondering why there were only three eggs… maybe this can explain… now I just moved the nesting box far away from all the trees and our house. I think I will add a baffle then to prevent it happens again.
Thank you so much!
Pin
Hi Pin,
The thing that confuses me a bit is why there was no eggs or shell pieces dropped outside the nest. That’s usually what happens when the nest is raided.
Adding the baffle would be a great idea. Just make sure there is no way for a snake to get up the center of it.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the advice!
I honestly have no idea what happened in the birdhouse… makes me want to set up a camera around it… I still feel a bit shocked to know that it may be raided by other predators 🙁
Pin
Hi Pin,
A camera would be very cool! The only caveat is, like Stacey M, you may have to see something you’d rather not. But you would have information to move forward with in any case.
Keep up the good work! Your visitors appreciate you, believe me.
Jeff