During April, I started seeing a chickadee visiting vines that climb up some trees in the woods. It was picking moss from the vines and taking it to the house I placed at the edge of the woods. Its been more than a month and the dees did it. They successfully fledged their chicks--all but one lone little egg. I checked the egg and it was perfect all around. It just didn't hatch. The dees are gone for now. I suppose the parents have the chicks deeper in the woods teaching them about greenies and other things young dees should know.

Below is an image of the nest as it was in the house. The female used some of the nesting material I purchased and hung up earlier this Spring.

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The female spent most of May on the flat part of the nest towards the door. That was her spot while she tended to the chicks.

The story doesn't end there. The dees fledged their chicks within 20 feet of a HOWR box. It wasn't intentional. At the start of Spring, I told myself the HOWRs would not trick me this year. I wanted dees and blues. So far, I have dees, mockingbirds, and HOWRs on the way. Here is a brief recap.

After the dees had time to lay eggs, I decided to protect them from any stray HOSP that might visit the yard. I put up a spooker--for 5 minutes--and quickly took it down after I saw the dees reaction to it. I then put on the hole reducer and all was well. The HOWRs weren't due for several weeks.

To my disappointment, the male HOWR showed up much earlier than normal. First the crooning, then the sticks--in the HOWR's box from last year. (Yes, the HOWRs outsmarted me last year and the female managed to get her egg-laying area completed before I knew it.)

At times, the male dee would visit the HOWR house. That resulted in the HOWR chasing him into and around the woods. Once or twice, the male HOWR visited the top of the dee house. That resulted in the dee chasing the male HOWR in and around the woods. Once the male dee roughed up the male HOWR. However, that was that.

I thought about a wren guard but decided against it since the HOWR was familiar with the house because his is identical. Instead, I noticed how well the male dee defended his house. He cut off a female cowbird in mid-air before it could reach the entrance. He took a male blue to the ground before it could get to the entrance. The female was almost always in the nest. In the evening when she came out to be with the male, they were within sight of their house. I decided they knew more about HOWR defense than I did and left them alone.

I decided not to take HOWR house down because I wanted it to occupy the male's attention. That left me with one thing--the pull-a-stick--trick. Yes, I pulled some sticks from the bottom of HOWR house to keep the busy little male occupied. Yes, he kept filling that house up. Then it happened. I felt for an indentation in the back of the sticks. The female did it again. She had prepared her nesting area. I then promised the HOWRs that they had the house and I wouldn't bother them again. Since they are native, they won again. This past weekend, I put on a hole-reducer to protect the HOWRs from any stray HOSPs because June is when my neighbor's HOSPs go into a mating frenzy. After the hole-reducer was up, a male and female HOSP showed up near HOWR house.

If Bet from Connecticut reads this, the only thing I can think of is that the male HOWR was not agressive because it doesn't have any territorial competition here. There are many acres of adjacent woods for him. He appears to have claimed about 4 acres although he could have many more. I do not hear any other HOWRs here. Perhaps that lack of competition made him docile and not agressive. I don't know.

Next Spring, I know I'll outsmart these HOWRs. They only have me down 2 to 0.