All About Chickadees

Here is a recent post from the Union Bay Watch Blog published by Larry Hubbell, long-time local photographer and birder. Here also is an in-depth article about Larry and his work.

Our Heroes

In times like these, celebrating the arrival of Spring and the creation of new life may feel like an inappropriate distraction. Instead, I hope the wonder and beauty of life will provide food for our souls and inspire us to fight on.

Earlier this week, this tiny Black-capped Chickadee waited for a chance to help excavate a new nest.

Its mate was already hard at work. Their nest will need to be deep, given the small diameter of this tiny snag. Otherwise, their eggs will be easily reached by predators.

Taking turns, the two chickadees removed the soft dead wood, one beak-full at a time. 

Rather than creating a noticeable pile of wood chips directly below the nest, they distributed the shavings elsewhere.

After an extensive amount of work, one of the chickadees settled inside a dense bush so it could safely clean up and straighten its feathers.

The process required checking under-the-hood or in this case under-the-wing.

The chickadee finally finished up with some stretching. 

It turns out that the chickadees are not the only ones to notice that Spring is here. Not far away a crow updated last year's nest with a new branch.

The Double-crested Cormorant on the left is adding new crests and hoping to increase its odds of mating. 

This female House Finch, who was accompanied by a very protective male, disappeared into a nearby spruce tree with this piece of nesting material.

This Red-breasted Nuthatch inspected an old and well-used nest. 

Marsha continues to incubate new eggs, in her newly rebuilt nest above Montlake Cut. 

(Thank you to eagle-eyed Jeff - for the early head's up on this year's nesting behavior!)

Her mate Monty can often be seen sitting nearby while he watches over Marsha and their new eggs.

Sometimes, Monty visits the nest and occasionally he takes over incubating so Marsha can stretch her wings and find some food for herself.

Yesterday, the male Cooper's Hawk (on the right) broke twigs off this tree and added them to a new nest. After a half a dozen trips, the female (on the left) allowed him to mate. Afterward, he jumped down and quickly put a little space between them. He is fast, but among predator birds, the females are usually bigger and stronger. A respectful distance seems appropriate.

This morning, the female Cooper's Hawk was sitting quietly in the new nest. Suddenly, she began a rapid vocalization and abandoned the site. A Red-tailed Hawk, which is significantly larger, landed in the Cooper's Hawk nest. The nest was inspected for food. Finding none, the Red-tail left. I am sure the harassment provided by the local American Crows was a contributing factor. Luckily, the Cooper's Hawks have apparently not yet laid any eggs.

Yesterday, a potentially similar encounter was handled differently by the Common Ravens. The raven on 'guard duty' immediately started calling when a Red-tailed Hawk attempted to fly through their territory. The raven's mate quickly appeared, most likely from a nearby nesting tree. The two smaller birds darted and dived as they aggressively chased the red-tail away.