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A happy Titmouse Easter

15 years ago

First of all a happy Easter to everyone. And for me it's an especially HAPPY day as at 8:32AM five healthy titmouse babies fledged from their home that I had built for them. They were all out of there in about 10 seconds and soared up into their oak tree. It was one of the most heart warming experiences I've ever had. Had I not been looking at the house when they fledged there's any number of ways I could have missed it and wind up wondering where'd everybody go, are they all still alive. The local scrub jays tried their best to mess up the whole situation.

After being denied their egg feast they'd stomp on the roof of the titmouse house, poke their beak in the hole and shreak and try to terrorize the poor nestlings. I've been worried for weeks that the babies would fall victim to the jays. What a relief they're all out safely.

So ... mission accomplished. I built a house for my favorite bird that kept them safe from predators, weather sealed, and brought them into the world. What a rewarding, wondrful feeling. My heart is just singing.

What's amazing to think of is that when both parents were in the box there were 7 nearly full grown birds in there, in a box with only a 4"X4" floor and an 8" ceiling.

Oh also it was neat to see the parents dutifully removing the fecal sacs when they were nesting. Man do they ever have their s**t together.

Happy Easter ya'll.

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Comments (4)

deanie13
15 years ago
Happy Easter to you and Congrats! Your birdhouse looks really good (almost kind of church-like).
bandjzmom
15 years ago
Oh gosh. What a nice post! Such a happy occasion. You made me feel like I had been there too. CONGRATS on the wonderful accomplishment!! I would adore having nesting Titmice. They tried to build at my house this year, but they wanted to use the basketball goal post. I had to plug it up because the teen boys play basketball there. How high up did you hang your house? I also had a terrific Easter surprise when I got to watch my Carolina Chickadees fledge from their house. It was 3:30pm, and I was surprised that they had waited until so late in the day to fledge.~~Angie
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birdist
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Angie,
Wow, Carolina Chickadees ... how lucky you are. I too am amazed they fledged so late in the day. So were they in a nesting box? Did you get a count of how many there were?

I hung my titmouse house about 12 feet above the gravel driveway in one of our beautiful oak trees. There is a fair amount of vehicle and foot traffic but the titmice are very people tolerant and dont mind the location.

After the titmouse selected the house she immediately started pecking at the walls inside. Tap,tap, tap, all day long for over a month. She's excavating the redwood to fill in the gaps and build a base for the nest. How cool is that. Next came the twigs and such and the rest is history. Five beautiful babies.
bandjzmom
15 years ago
Well, I think that it is VERY cool birdist!! Wow. I had no idea that they excavated a box like that. I don't know how I missed that back when I was researching their nesting habits. I have a nice house for them, and I am trying to figure out what is the best location. I knew that higher up was better, but I am concerned about HOSP's trying to use the house. I am the only adult in my family, and 12 feet up is a long (and dangerous) way up for me to be checking a bird house.~~Angie

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