Mariton: Little Chickadees

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager

In the above photo, you can see some baby chickadees.  If you look closely, you will see the egg on the bottom  is split.  The chick was actually hatching when I monitored the box. 

These Chickadees hatched last week.  You can see the difference a week makes in development.  There are still four eggs in this nest, but it is unlikely that they will hatch at this point. 

There are three Tree Swallow nests with eggs like the one above.  They should start hatching this week. 

 We lost two broods of Bluebirds two weeks ago, when we had the frost.   I don’t know if the cold weather was the cause, but don’t lose hope.  Last year a similar thing happened and the pairs re-nested successfully.