Nest Boxes 5-23-10 : A Tale of Two Chickadees

Both of our nest boxes are occupied this year.  We have one up on a big Douglas fir just beyond our back fence at the edge of the woods.  Chestnut-backed chickadees have nested here every year for almost 20 years, except the one year I didn't clean it out and a colony of bumblebees started up in it.

This year I moved a nest box that was hanging from our large camellia out front to a location by our back door where it hangs underneath a balcony.  A wren pair started a nest in this box last year when it was hanging in the camellia but for some reason the wrens abandoned it or something bad happened to them.  This year a pair of Black-capped chickadees have occupied it in the new location.