I've read about how vicious sparrows can be. I hate sparrows. They can empty out my bird feeder in a couple of hours. Throwing most of it to the ground. The neighbors have a lot of opening on their houses that the sparrows are nesting in. When the holes get bigger the starling then get in and drop crap all over my car. A sparrow worked to make the opening bigger this winter with out success. The chickadees must keep a low profile early on. That evening, just before sunset, one of the babies was hangin on the outside of the hole and then flew down to the ground and hide in the bee balm. The next morning it was on the grapevine. The next evening another one left around the same time. Must be a plan to leave then. They are now in some evergreen trees. I've heard the parents warning them when there are bluejays around. Today I saw one of the adult chickadee chasing a sparrow.

My observation is that in the egg-laying phase, the female roosts in the box to lay an egg in the early morning, then she leaves the box for the day. This is what the 'book' also says. However, there is a difference between what the 'book' says and what I have observed this year as to the start of incubation. The 'book' says that she starts incubating, i.e. she stays in the box for the day with short interruptions (and roosts in the box at night) when she has laid her penultimate egg. In other words, the 'book' says that she will lay another egg the next morning after she stays in the box for the first incubation day. What I have observed this year is that she did not lay another egg after she stayed in the box for the first incubation day. (She is incubating 7 eggs now) As to fur blankets, what I have observed are fur blankets of up to perhaps half an inch thick. Last year bird was somewhat diligent in covering the eggs when she left the box. This year bird mostly leaves the eggs uncovered when she leaves the box. This different nesting behavior is perhaps another indication that it is not the same bird that nests in the box.

The 3 babies are still in the box this morning, a few hours short of 14 days old (they hatched in the afternoon hours). The baby birds in my pic do not hunker down, that is their normal position when they are at rest in the nest cup and at complete ease. They do gape when I inadvertently make a noise, even a soft noise. This is not like usual monitoring where the baby birds see the monitor. I know this all because I peek several times a day in my special spybox and have watched them at rest, move about, fluttering their wings, etc (I have also done monitoring the usual way) Yesterday late evening I peeked in the box, briefly turning on a faint light and saw the mother bird sleeping and fluffed up big time. It was a bit colder than the previous days at 8 degrees Centigrade. She looked very much like a mammal with very long fur, LOL.

7 eggs? If they all hatch that will be one busy mom! I have 5 baby dees and they are the sweetest little nestlings ever. If I had a nestcam in my boxes, there would be no hope for me! Monitoring the box worries me enough. Linda