There was a pair of chickadees building a nest in a box on my house that has a camera in it-- for nine days they worked on it, and the last three nights one of them has been sleeping in it (presumably the female?).
Now two bluebirds want the real estate. They fussed over and around it yesterday, sometimes getting whacked in the face by a chickadee torpedo from inside. Last night, it seemed the chickadees had prevailed, since one slept in the box. Today, so far, the bluebirds seem to be meeting no resistance from within or without, and often get in the box together and vocalize. My grandmother had the exact same thing happen in her nestbox cam last year with the same two species. In her case, the bluebirds won and the chickadees moved into a nearby box. Are bluebirds generally opportunistic? What will the chickadees do with whatever egg is brewing in the female if the bluebirds win? It took them nine days to make their first nest... Caroline Manring West Hill, Ithaca -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
