Chickadees - they're back!

Recently, I mentioned it appeared the Carolina chickadee pair had decided

 not to nest in the little 'Home Sweet Home' box on the porch this spring. 

Wow, how wrong I was, and how these tiny creatures never cease to amaze me.

There is now daily activity.

Quietly, the pair of tiny birds have built a nest!  

After cleaning the front porch, the pollen season just about over,

 we've been sitting outside on the last couple of beautiful calm, warm

evenings - sipping an aperitif after several hours working in the garden -

and watching this little guy bringing green grubs to the nesting box, 

obviously feeding the female who must be sitting on eggs.

Before popping into the box he sits here, makes a tiny chirp to advise her 

of his arrival, flies in and then back out in about 30 seconds and takes

off to resume his search for supper.

Note, no Boston ferns in my hanging baskets yet!

This is probably the fifth year the chickadees have nested in this now

somewhat weathered little house!

"In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence."

. . . . . . Robert Wilson Lynd ~ 1879-1949

Wet Saturday, Chickadees and Azaleas. . . . . .

A somewhat unwelcome Saturday morning. 

Rain pouring nonstop. 

Newly bloomed azaleas battered to the ground.

After a scary evening yesterday with rain, flash flooding, hail and

 a tornado warning, all within a few miles of us, we don't need more water.

Thankfully though we sustained no damage here.

A pair of chickadees have been checking the little bird house on the front porch for

 a couple of weeks, however, this year it appears they've decided to build a nursery 

elsewhere. There is no sign of a nest. I even attached a little ball of dryer

lint which I thought they might use. April is moving along quickly and I really

 think they would have moved in by now.

We haven't shopped for our annual hanging Boston ferns for these empty

 baskets yet - but they are on the 'to do' list for a trip to the garden center

on a much drier day.

The fig tree seems to like all this rain, I notice the leaves this morning seem

 more lush and fuller, and the bluebells are standing tall.

Our rain is predicted to last all day, tapering off around 7 PM - which is good as we 

have a theatre date for 8 PM. 

The production of "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" is apparently a

humorous adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's scary story "The Hound of

 the Baskervilles" which is set on often fog-shrouded Dartmoor in Devon,

 just a few miles from my English home. 

My favorite, and I have masses of them, all planted many years ago . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . the George Tabor Azalea is one of the best of the sun and

 heat-tolerant evergreen Azaleas. Beautiful evergreen, premier shrub

 for use as hedge, screen or massed planting for a truly 

impressive color display.

Hope your weekend brings sunshine and you are able to get outside

and enjoy some fun in the fresh air.

The wee interloper. . . . . . .

~ The House Wren ~

We rarely see this particular tiny bird in our garden even though it's a native

 of eastern North Carolina. It rarely comes to seed feeders preferring an insect diet.

 In winter months it sometimes migrates to other southern states and Mexico,

 but often just hangs out in North Carolina year round.

A very tiny bird, just a bit smaller than the more prolific Carolina wren - my favorite

 little bird ~ but the same size as the Carolina chickadee, this wren apparently has

 found its way to my front porch over the past few days, and. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

 . . . . . . . . . .guess who's having to fend him/her off from their nest site in the 

Home Sweet Home box, our pair of chickadees!

They have a plan though, when the wren shows up, one stays covering the entrance

 while the other one hangs on the Boston fern then chases the noisy wren away.

Here the House wren is sitting on the jasmine below the nest box, probably thinking

 the spider web is camouflaging it! This bird is very cute, barely 5" long and not

 as chubby as the Carolina wren.  Brown and tan, with a slightly curved bill, it also

 holds its tail erect. It lacks the white eyebrow of the Carolina wren but is also a

 prolific songster, singing loud, melodious songs from dawn to dusk during 

the mating season. I'll be keeping an eye on it as I don't want it to steal

 house and home from the chickadees - they have nested here for the past

 three years, and last year in April we were lucky enough to watch the

four babies fledge - an awesome sight.

From the wildlife habitat, my garden, yet another bird story. . . . . . . . 

 and there will be more of course!

We're back. . . . . . and we're busy!

It really doesn't take much to make me happy and excited these days.

While putting out my Springtime/Easter decor in the dining room this

 morning, I saw them flitting back and forth out of the corner of my eye.

Grabbed the camera and started shooting through the window.

Are they the very same pair of Carolina chickadees from last year, 

 maybe even the year before, building again in the tiny decorative

 HOME SWEET HOME box? Or perhaps it's an offspring

who has brought a mate back here to its birthplace to start a

new family. How will we ever know?

The mysteries of Nature are many and some we never get an answer to.

I do know these very tiny birds are awesome, and their amazing

housekeeping and nest building skills using just a tiny beak, and those

 two big feet, bring me joy just from watching them work so hard on the

 front porch now that Spring is almost here.

Last year I was privy to the fledging of four tiny babies from this same nest 

box HERE on April 27.  Not sure I'll be fortunate enough to see a repeat 

performance this year!

Good luck little Carolina chickadees. 

I hope all goes well and you raise a sweet family here.

Empty Nesters. . . . . . . .

I had a feeling that today would be the day!

Yesterday evening we relaxed with a glass of wine on the front porch, 
admiring our gardening efforts, and watching the parent chickadees

 feeding their offspring above our heads. 

As mentioned before, Carolina chickadees are such amazing tiny

birds who are extremely attentive parents. Not knowing how many 

babies were there, but thinking there had to be several keeping them

working on non-stop food distribution, we just hoped we'd see the 

excitement of the fledging young, but realized it would be a hit or miss 

occasion.

Today, waking just before 7AM to brilliant sunshine, and birdsong, I dashed

 to the dining room windows, camera at the ready, to check the nest box. 

At first thought this bird was a parent bringing breakfast, then I realized it
 was a baby chickadee probably thinking about moving out and leaving home!

After watching it pop in and out for about 5 minutes. . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . . . little claws appeared, first one . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . then the other, and in one whoosh it flew right out of the box at lightning

 speed toward a tree in the side garden.

And there I was, for the past week, worrying and wondering how in the

 world those tiny birds would get out of the box and, when they did, would

 they fall down onto to spiky hydrangea bushes and be injured! Who knew

they fly so well immediately. 

Hearing more excited chirping from the box, I knew there were siblings, so woke

Bob and he joined me on the porch. . . . . . . and for next 45 minutes we sipped 

our wake-up coffees, and me poised with the camera until my shoulders ached. 

I took 89 pix of birds sticking their heads out the hole etc!!!

In between fledging babies, one of the parents came back and forth with small

 bits of suet from our feeder, offered a quick taste then flew off with some still

 in its beak - must have been tempting the baby to follow. The other parent was

 probably waiting somewhere in the trees where the babies seemed to be headed. 

I noted that the first bird to leave took the longest to make up its

 mind - "should I stay or should I go?"

The next THREE, oh yes there were FOUR total stuffed in what must have

 become a very crowded and hot box by yesterday (the temperature outside

 reached the mid-80's here), made their moves quickly. Two more headed 

to the trees, but the last one flew up on our roof, bobbed all the way up the

shingles to the crest, and then flew to the trees to join the others.

This has really been a busy week in our garden for birds. We've also had 

four baby Carolina wrens appear - don't know where the parents put their

 nest this year, but they were teaching the cutest babies to look for

food and fly from branch to branch on the fig tree (wrens apparently hop

 about for a while before really flying any distance). The only birds remaining

 close to the cottage we're hoping to see fledge, are the nuthatch family in

 our large birdhouse, and with this very warm weather I'm sure they will be

 moving out any day also.

We do feel blessed to be sharing our garden with so many beautiful birds. . . . 

and now a new generation will be arriving at our feeders.

Chickadees are very busy. . . . . . . . . . .

Carolina chickadee bringing a tasty breakfast morsel to its babies this morning.

You may remember this post where I shared the pair of Carolina chickadees

 cleaning out the little nesting box hanging on the front porch last month.

It's now obvious that mom and pop have a new family, and

that the eggs have hatched. Sadly, I can't see inside so have no idea how many 

nestlings are tucked in there, however, by the sound of the "feed me" cheeping when

 the parents arrive with food, there are several. Chickadees usually lay 5-7 eggs

 and have 1-2 broods per year.

Here a parent is doing a little housekeeping by removing poop! Clean little 

birds - the wrens do the same - whereas finches never do housework and

leave behind very messy nests when the babies fledge.

I can now sit outside on the porch very close to these birds and watch 

their comings and goings close up - they don't appear to be nervous at all.

These parents are quite amazing, flying back and forth non-stop with grubs, 

worms, flies and other delicacies. Would love to see the baby birds fledge, probably

will happen later this week, but it's hard to know exactly when so I may miss the 

joyful occasion. I just hope the little family remain safe and I can enjoy even 

more sweet little Carolina chickadees in my garden.

The busy garden this morning.

Rainy day on the front porch. . . . . .

Rain, rain come and stay. . . . . . we love having you

 for a day!

Yesterday's near perfect weather provided quite good conditions for mowing

 the grass and tidying up a bit around the front garden. 

Pollen still a problem as it was breezy - evening was spent sneezing - but fortunately 

we don't seem incapacitated by serious allergies as are so many during this season.

Our fixer-upper guy had a medical problem and hasn't shown up yet, hopefully 

he's going to arrive tomorrow and start on the cottage repairs.

Today it's raining which has helped dampen down the pollen. You can see it here

 on the cushions - no point in cleaning them off until perhaps next weekend when most

of the pollen should be done with. After today the weather will be sunny and dry for 

many days.

Did you see my little nesting box in the above photos?

I told you some weeks back that the Carolina chickadees were cleaning out 

the box. Later they brought in new twigs and such, now there are apparently 

eggs being kept warm - both male and female incubate - and we see this pair

coming and going with food as this one was yesterday in the sunshine. 

Baby chickadees soon hopefully!

Our two jasmines on the porch posts are already in bud, new growth is rampant

 and will soon require pruning weekly so we can get in the front door!

Everywhere is looking quite lush and lovely. That middle tree behind the bird

 feeder - which needs filling again - is our Celeste fig which hopefully will bring us a

 good harvest again in late Summer.

We live on a cul-de-sac and are fortunate there is no house directly across from us,

 just the small wooded area where the foxes and hawks hang out.

In so many ways we are lucky to live here, and it looks like we too will be 

hanging out here for a while longer!!!

Carolina Chickadees are Spring Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

A common bird of the Carolinas who is very friendly and can be tamed
 and hand fed. I've never managed to get one to eat out of my hand, but admit
 to standing in the back garden with it outstretched, full of birdseed, until my
 poor old shoulder ached! 

Our many Carolina chickadees do love hanging out on the front porch, also at

 feeders and birdbaths located in the back garden. Being non-migrators we can

 enjoy them year round in any type of weather.

Both the male and female, also the juveniles, are mostly grey birds
 with a black cap and chin, white face and chest, and darker grey tail. 
They are the smallest birds in our garden, but notice in these photos that they
 have sturdy looking legs and huge feet with which they can hold insects and
 seeds while pecking into them. 

Both male and female construct a nest then 5-7 very tiny eggs, white with

 reddish-brown markings are laid. They have 1-2 broods per year.

Despite not being officially Spring, I believe our chickadees are preparing

 a nest already. They have nested in this same box on the front porch for the
 past couple of years. 

Until this morning I thought they were bringing in building materials during the
 past few days, seeing the clump of soft bits stuffed in the entrance. . . . . . . however
 this morning it's obvious they are taking out debris from last year!

This is one of those decorative birdhouses, so cute, but unfortunately no
door to open which would allow us to clean out the old nest.

Such a huge job for a tiny bird who has only its stubby little beak as a

 Spring cleaning tool!

 I am definitely tempted to give a little assistance to these tiny birds - one swift

 pull and I could help with what appears to be a gigantic job for one or two tiny

 creatures - but we have decided not to interfere with Nature.

What would you do? Do you believe in just allowing them to clean their

house by themselves? 

A sweet, quite feisty little bird which is Bob's favorite - and of course I love them too!