In the town of Kent in Putnam. Got buzzed 3 days ago and my wife said she saw one a day earlier. Frost warning tonight for us. Hope the peach tree survives as we got no peaches from last years very late frost.

In case the eggs are still OK - maybe you can try moving the nest? I'm not sure if it's possible to reach or if the parents will accept it. But most of the the time it works. I have personally made a little move/remaking a fallen open cap nests with chicks in it, and once I moved a starling nest with eggs from the hole under the roof. I moved it because the chicks were falling out of the hole and it was not the best nesting site. First I screwed the birdhouse to the wall in such a way that the hole in the birdhouse was as close as possible to the hole the birds were using. After that I moved the nest with the eggs into the birdhouse and sealed the hole under the roof. I watched the parents - they started going inside the birdhouse after a very short time. I gave them a few days to get use to the new nesting site and after that I moved it to a pole about 4' from the wall where the house was originally located. They accepted it again and raised chicks from the eggs I moved. You can probably do the same for your birds. If its fails - well, as you said, maybe it's for the best.

Lisa, I thought that I read on this forum that some birds are more sensitive to disturbances than others. All I know about nest-box monitoring I learn from this forum. I respect and appreciate the efforts (and results!) of bluebird landlords, who reestablished EABBs in the eastern US. I do question, personally, the monitoring of other songbirds whose populations are not in trouble; my concern, also, is that some people, way less knowledgeable than the pros here, will think that they can and should monitor all nests, including cup nests. On the BWF, someone took a picture of almost fledged 'dees. I worry about flushing out chicks that age. Not that anyone knowledgeable on this forum would do it, but you all know your stuff. Many people glean information from forums instead of researching, and cannot keep their hands out of nests. Not that I am "scolding" anyone; it's just what I think of, as a visitor, when I come here. Not everyone knows there stuff. But I guess we can't help that. My instincts and background urge me to leave nests alone (except EABBs), because unknowingly, we create more trouble than help with birds that are doing well already, and need the experience of nesting failures to get them right in other tries. Although Janie's save is impossible to argue with!! But Janie, your gut (sorry for the metaphor) is greater than most other's : ) Which nest boxes then are you supposed to not check? Which species was I thinking of? Thanks!

Really? My 8 year old was trying to train them but she probably moves around too much or is too noisy and they all clear when we are out. We have a trail (driving distance) where the chickadees land on you. They are very cute. Do you have paths nearby where such an occurance happens and they are trained? Are they really just naturally friendly? I think I will pick up some unsalted peanuts for her to take out this week since we have so many at our feeder.