Another Chick-a-dee-dee-dee story

On a misty March morning along the shores of Lake Erie two chickadees were busy in their own world. No wonder these little ones have unanimously earned the name as Cute.



Would there be an exception to somebody not eagerly waiting for spring, and these chickadees are no exception.

The call of the chickadee was coming from the distance. I am not experienced enough to distinguish between a two tone chickadee song and a call.



Chickadee songs usually are a sweet two note song (fee bee). (Listen to Typical song or song example at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_chickadee/sounds/ac ). Whereas the calls are a lively Chick-a-dee-dee-dee from where they get their name. (Listen to chicka-dee call at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_chickadee/sounds/ac)

Also listen to http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Poecile-atricapilla-004.ogg



As the nesting season of April is approaching these chickadees was busy preparing the nest. Though the nest will be built only by the female I was saw both male and female very active.



Infact they were not building the nest but excavating the nest. For the bird of such a small size , Constructing a nest of 2” diameter won’t be an easy job. I watched for 2 days throughout they day they were busy excavating. No wonder it would take 7-10 days for nest excavation. The pairs started their excavation at the right time they still have few more days before the formal spring announcement comes.

Chickadees usually keep their pairs for along time and from the visual it was very evident that these pairs were a strong one.




After watching them for two days I just wish they keep their nest with them. Chickadees usually don’t win the competition among other cavity nesters. They might flee when their nest is distorted or taken from other birds.

Female spend a good amount of time building their nest. Every time I was observing them the female was more cautious to go inside the nest and excavate. Male was friendlier and was slow in moving in and out.

Female made sure most of the time the entry in nest was from different direction. She even tried to exit in the different direction. I just wondered even the female in chickadee are no exception.

With 20% being the chance of young one successfully getting its life, All I could wish was these cute chickadee’s nest should be a successful home to next generation chickadees.